TDS Returns or quarterly return statements are required to be furnished by the assesses who have deducted tax at source or TDS. As a Tax deductor, you need to file your TDS returns before the respective due dates in order to avoid any penalty later on.

Following are the different TDS forms :

Form No.	Pariculars
Form 24 Q	Statement for TDS from Salary.
Form 26 Q	Statement for TDS on payments other than salary (for non-salary TDS)
Form 27 Q	Statement for TDS from Interest,dividend or any sum paid to Non Residents(NRI).

Due dates for filing TDS Return :

As per Notification 30/2016 dated 29.04.2016 ,CBDT has revised the due date of filing of TDS Statements.

Now,a single date has been prescribed for E-TDS return for government as well as non government assesses.

So,for the financial year 2016-17 the due dates of filing E-TDS returns i.e. Form 24 Q, Form 26 Q and Form 27 Q for Government and non government deductors are as follows :-

Quarter Ending	E-TDS Return filing due date
30th June	31st July of Financial year
30th September	31st October of Financial year
31st December	31st January of Financial year
31st March	31st May of succeeding financial year in which deduction has been made.

E-TDS Returns :

As per Section 206, the TDS returns need to be filed electronically also known as E-TDS Returns in case of the following assesses :

• Corporate deductors
• Government deductors
• Where deductor is required to get his accounts audited under section 44AB in the preceding financial year.
• Where no.of deductees is equal to or greater than 20 in one quarter of immediately preceding financial year.

These quarterly statements need to be accompanied by physical copy of Form 27A which is a control chart showing the “amount paid” and “TDS”.

The TDS returns can be submitted directly at the NSDL TIN website or at any of the authorised TIN Facilitation centres (TIN FCs). If your return is complete in all respects and submitted successfully, you shall be issued a provisional receipt.

This provisional receipt is an acknowledgement of your return filing and is also helpful in checking your TDS Return status online at the NSDL TIN Website.

You have to pay the return upload charges while submitting your TDS return at TIN FCs.

TDS Return Upload charges are fixed as follows :

No.of Deductee records in TDS Return	Upload Charges (excluding service tax)
Upto 100 records	Rs.31.15
101 to 1000 records	Rs.178
1000 and above deductee records	Rs.578.5

Penalty on Late filing of TDS return :

As per Section 234E if an assessee fails to file TDS return before the respective due date, he shall be liable to pay a fine of Rs.200 per day till the date this default continues. So,you have to pay this fine for late filing everyday until your return is filed. But,this fine cannot exceed the total tax deducted by the assessee.

Penalty for Non-filing of TDS return :

In case the TDS return has not been filed within 1 year from the due date, a penalty shall also be levied in such a situation.This penalty shall be minimum Rs.10000 upto a maximum of Rs.100000.

Revised TDS Return :

In case you observe any errors after submission of the TDS returns or you want to rectify any information in the already filed return, you can file a correction statement for the same.Simply stated, you are allowed to revise your TDS return to rectify any mistakes that you found in the original return.

So,if you are a TDS deductor, it is always advisable to file your TDS returns on timely basis. 

For details on TDS and TDS rates,do checkout our blog post : What is TDS ? TDS Rate chart for the Financial year 2016-17

As an individual thinking about your investments and tax planning, you must go through our popular blog posts :

7 Best Short Term Investments in India and Tax Deduction U/s 80C – Which are 15 best tax saving investments !