TDS return for July to September 2026: what to collect from clients, and the messages to send

For most clients, the TDS statement is a small job made slow by one missing detail: a challan nobody can find, a contractor without a PAN, a rent payment the client forgot to mention. Ask for everything in the first week of October, with a cut-off date, and the last week of the month stays free for the statements themselves.

The dates for this quarter

The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from 1 April 2026, so tax deducted from July to September 2026 is reported on the new forms:¹²

• Form No. 140 (earlier Form No. 26Q): TDS on payments other than salary to residents, such as professional fees, rent, commission and brokerage. Due by 31 October 2026.¹
• Form No. 138 (earlier Form No. 24Q): TDS on salary. Also due by 31 October 2026.²
• The tax itself is deposited by the 7th of the month after it was deducted, so tax deducted in September was due by 7 October.³
• Form No. 131 (earlier Form No. 16A), the certificate for each payee, is due within 15 days of the statement's due date: by 15 November 2026 for this quarter. It can only be downloaded from TRACES after the statement has been processed.⁴

The rest of the half-year's dates, including the statement for October to December due by 31 January, are in our compliance calendar.

If the statement is late or wrong

A person who does not deliver the statement on time pays a fee of ₹200 for every day the failure continues. The fee cannot exceed the amount of tax deductible, and it must be paid before the statement is delivered.⁵ A filed statement cannot be edited, but once it has been processed a correction statement can be filed within two years from the end of the tax year: for this quarter, up to 31 March 2029.¹

What to collect from each client

Form No. 140 has one annexure with a line for every payee: PAN, name, section, amount paid or credited, dates, tax deducted and deposited, and the reason for any lower or no deduction. The department lists two things a deductor needs to file it: the challans for the tax paid, and the PAN of every payee.⁶ So the client list looks like this.

Our recommendation: ask for missing PANs first, in the first message, because they depend on someone outside the client's office replying. The challans the client usually has; the PAN of a contractor paid once in August is the detail that holds up the statement.

Messages you can copy

Replace the words in brackets, and write them in English or Hindi, whichever your clients use. Set your own cut-off, about a week before 31 October, as in our GST reminders.

The monthly message for TDS details, before the deposit on the 7th, is in the compliance calendar, and the one for collecting your own fees afterwards is in our fee reminder templates.

What can run by itself

• The quarter's list, sent to every client who deducts TDS on the date you choose.
• A tracker of what each client has sent: payments, PANs and challans, updated as files arrive.
• Follow-ups that name only the missing items, go only to clients with something pending, and stop once the details are complete.
• The certificates, sent to each client once they are downloaded, with a note of the 15 November date.

What stays with your team

• The statement. Preparing, checking and filing it, and the correction statement if one is needed.
• Judgment calls. Whether a payment needed TDS, which section applies, and what to do about a payment where it was missed.
• The awkward conversation. With the client whose challans never arrive until the last day.

Count it first

This quarter, note the day each client's details were complete, and how many messages and calls it took. Clients who finished late are where reminders help most, and next quarter you will have a date to compare. The same list-and-follow-up approach works for audit clients' documents, as in our ITR documents checklist. More of what we write for CA practices is on the blog.

Questions CAs ask