Form 24Q: Salary TDS Return, Due Dates and Filing Process
Table of Contents
Every rupee of tax you deduct from an employee’s salary has to be reported to the Income Tax Department, employee by employee, four times a year. Form 24Q is how you report it.
This is the quarterly TDS return that employers file for tax deducted on salaries. It lists each employee’s salary, the tax deducted, and the challans through which that tax was deposited. The data filed here flows into the employee’s Form 26AS and becomes the basis for their Form 16.
Key points
- Form 24Q is filed every quarter by any employer who deducts TDS on salary
- Annexure I goes in all four quarters, while Annexures II and III go only in Q4
- Due dates are 31 July, 31 October, 31 January and 31 May
- Late filing costs ₹200 a day, capped at the TDS amount in the return
- From 1 April 2026, Form 24Q is renumbered Form 138 under the Income Tax Act, 2025
Form 24Q is Now Form 138: What Changed in 2026
Most guides have not caught up with this change.
The Income Tax Act, 2025 replaced the Income Tax Act, 1961 from 1 April 2026, and the TDS forms were renumbered under the Income-tax Rules, 2026:
| Old form or section | New number |
|---|---|
| Form 24Q (salary TDS return) | Form 138 |
| Form 16 | Form 130 |
| Form 16A | Form 131 |
| Form 26AS | Form 168 |
| Form 15G and 15H | Form 121 |
| Section 192 (TDS on salary) | Section 392 |
What has not changed: the structure, the annexures, the due dates and the penalties all continue as before. Only the numbering moved. The form itself is published on the Income Tax Department website.
Which form applies to you. The transition rule is based on timing. Where the earlier of credit or payment falls on or before 31 March 2026, the old Act and old form numbers apply. From 1 April 2026 onwards, the new Act and Form 138 apply. The first return filed fully under the new framework was for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Most people still search and speak in terms of Form 24Q, so both names refer to the same return. Track this alongside your other statutory compliance changes under the new Act.
What is Form 24Q?
Form 24Q is a quarterly statement filed with the Income Tax Department by every employer who deducts tax from employee salaries. It reports three things for the quarter: how much salary was paid, how much tax was deducted, and how that tax was deposited.
The form matters beyond compliance. Whatever you file here appears in your employees’ Form 26AS and Annual Information Statement. If your filing is wrong, their tax credit is wrong, and they hear about it from the department rather than from you.
Who Must File Form 24Q?
Any employer who deducts TDS on salary must file it, whether a company, LLP, proprietorship, trust or government office. Company size and employee count make no difference. If you deduct salary TDS, you file. The amount to deduct comes from each employee’s projected annual tax, which you can check with the income tax calculator.
Structure: Annexure I, II and III
Most guides mention only two annexures. There are three.
Annexure I, Filed every Quarter
Contains the deductor details, the challan details and the employee-wise deduction record for that quarter:
- Employee PAN and name
- Salary paid during the quarter
- TDS deducted and deposited
- Challan details, including BSR code, deposit date and amount
Annexure II, Filed in Q4 Only
The full-year salary computation for each employee:
- Gross salary
- Exemptions such as HRA and LTA
- Deductions under Chapter VI-A
- Total taxable income and total tax for the year
- The tax regime the employee chose
Annexure II feeds directly into Part B of Form 16, which is why an error here becomes an employee’s problem in June.
Annexure III, Filed in Q4 Only
Covers specified senior citizens, reporting pension and interest income paid during the year along with income from other sources and the resulting tax liability. It applies in a narrow set of cases, which is why most guides skip it, but leaving it out where it applies makes the return incomplete.
Form 24Q Due Dates
| Quarter | Period covered | Due date |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | April to June | 31 July |
| Q2 | July to September | 31 October |
| Q3 | October to December | 31 January |
| Q4 | January to March | 31 May |
Two related deadlines catch teams out. The tax itself must be deposited by the 7th of the following month, and Form 16 must reach employees by 15 June after the financial year ends. Both sit alongside the other deadlines in your payroll year-end checklist. Miss the Q4 return and the Form 16 deadline goes with it, since Part B is built from Annexure II.
How to File Form 24Q
- Collect the data. Employee PANs, salary paid, TDS deducted and challan details for the quarter
- Prepare the return using the Return Preparation Utility from the Protean, formerly NSDL, portal, or generate the file directly from your payroll system
- Validate the file through the File Validation Utility, which flags PAN errors and challan mismatches before submission
- Submit the validated file online, or through a TIN facilitation centre
- Check the status on TRACES at tdscpc.gov.in once processed
- Download Form 16 Part A from TRACES; Part B is generated from your Annexure II data
Running this from payroll data rather than a spreadsheet removes the two errors that cause most rejections: wrong PANs and challan amounts that do not reconcile. Few tasks show the value of payroll automation as clearly as this one.
Penalties for Late or Wrong Filing
| Default | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Late filing (Section 234E) | ₹200 per day of delay, capped at the total TDS in that return |
| Not filed within one year, or wrong details (Section 271H) | Penalty of ₹10,000 to ₹1,00,000 |
| Late deposit of TDS | Interest at the prescribed rate from the deduction date |
A Worked Example
Your Q2 return carries ₹80,000 of TDS and you file 20 days late. The fee is ₹200 × 20, which is ₹4,000. File 400 days late and the fee reaches the ₹80,000 cap, and Section 271H can add a penalty on top.
The ₹200 daily fee cannot be waived, and the portal will not accept the return until it is paid.
Where Filings Actually Go Wrong
Three problems cause most Form 24Q trouble, and all three start inside payroll rather than at filing time.
PAN Errors
A wrong or missing PAN means the employee gets no tax credit, no matter how correctly you deducted. Validate PANs at onboarding, not in the week before the return. This sits inside your wider payroll compliance checklist.
Challan Mismatches
The amount deposited must reconcile with the amount reported. Deposits made under the wrong assessment year or section are a common cause of defaults appearing on TRACES.
Regime and Declaration Changes
An employee who switches between the old and new tax regime mid-year or submits investment proofs late, changes the annual computation. If payroll is not updated, Annexure II carries the old numbers into Form 16.
A payroll audit each quarter, before filing rather than after, catches all three while they are still cheap to fix.
How factoHR Helps with Form 24Q
Form 24Q is only as accurate as the payroll behind it. factoHR’s payroll software calculates TDS against each employee’s declared regime and proofs, keeps PAN and challan records on the same employee master, and generates the quarterly return file along with the annual computation that feeds Annexure II. HR teams then file from verified data instead of rebuilding it in a spreadsheet every quarter.
Conclusion
Form 24Q looks like a quarterly filing task, but it is really a payroll accuracy test taken four times a year. Get PANs, challans and regime declarations right through the year, and the return becomes a download rather than a scramble.
Two dates to hold: the 7th of each month for depositing tax, and the quarterly return deadline. And from 1 April 2026, remember that the form you are filing is officially Form 138, even though almost everyone still calls it 24Q.
FAQs on Form 24Q
What is Form 24Q Used for?
Form 24Q is the quarterly TDS return that employers file for tax deducted on employee salaries. It reports salary paid, tax deducted and challan details for each employee, and the data flows into the employee’s Form 26AS and Form 16.
Is Form 24Q Still Valid in 2026?
The return continues, but the number has changed. From 1 April 2026, under the Income Tax Act, 2025, Form 24Q is renumbered Form 138 and salary TDS moves from Section 192 to Section 392. The structure, annexures, due dates and penalties are unchanged.
What are the Form 24Q Due Dates?
31 July for Q1, 31 October for Q2, 31 January for Q3 and 31 May for Q4. The tax itself must be deposited by the 7th of the following month, and Form 16 must be issued to employees by 15 June.
What is the Difference between Annexure I and Annexure II?
Annexure I is filed every quarter and carries employee-wise deduction and challan details for that quarter. In Q4 you also file Annexure II, which carries the full-year salary computation for each employee and becomes Part B of Form 16. A third annexure, Annexure III, covers specified senior citizens in the same quarter.
What is the Penalty for Late Filing of Form 24Q?
Section 234E charges ₹200 for each day of delay, capped at the total TDS reported in that return. If the return remains unfiled for over a year, or carries wrong details, Section 271H allows a penalty of ₹10,000 to ₹1,00,000.
Can Form 24Q be Revised after Filing?
Yes. A correction statement can be filed to fix wrong PANs, challan details or salary figures. Corrections are worth making quickly, because until they are processed the employee’s Form 26AS keeps showing the wrong credit.
How does Form 24Q Affect Form 16?
Part A of Form 16 is downloaded from TRACES using your filed return, and Part B is generated from the Annexure II computation. So an error in Annexure II becomes an error in the employee’s Form 16, which they discover while filing their own return.
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