Form 131 TDS Certificate: Due Date, TRACES Download and Bulk Issue Checklist

Form 131 TDS Certificate: Due Date, TRACES Download and Bulk Issue Checklist

The Form 131 TDS certificate is the certificate a deductor issues to a payee for tax deducted on payments other than salary. It replaces Form 16A of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The Q2 (July–September 2026) TDS statement is due on 31 October 2026, so the Q2 certificates are due on 15 November 2026. For a company with hundreds or thousands of vendors, that is a large batch, and late or wrong certificates lead to vendor follow-ups and mismatched credit claims. This guide covers the legal basis, the dates, the TRACES steps and a checklist for finance and tax teams.

What is Form 131?

Form 131 is the TDS certificate under section 395(4)(a) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, which corresponds to section 203 of the 1961 Act. The related rule is Rule 215(1) of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 (Table, Sl. No. 2), which replaces Rule 31 of the 1962 Rules. The deductor issues it for tax deducted and deposited on non-salary payments. The deductee uses it to support the TDS credit claim when filing the return.

The certificates for the other payment types have also been renumbered:

Source: Income Tax Department certificate table and Form 131 and Form 133 FAQs

Form 131 due date: when must it be issued?

The certificate must be issued within 15 days from the due date of the quarterly TDS statement. For Tax Year 2026-27:

The certificate dates come from the Income Tax Department's Form 131 FAQ. The statement dates follow Rule 219 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 as reported by a tax-compliance publisher; the Q2 date of 31 October 2026 matches the CBDT-notified date used across our other guides. Form 130 for salary is due by 15 June after the tax year ends, which is 15 June 2027 for Tax Year 2026-27.

For late filing of the statement itself, section 427 of the 2025 Act carries a fee of ₹200 per day, capped at the tax deducted or collected. Check the Income Tax Department's section 427 page for the exact conditions before quoting this to a client.

How a Form 131 certificate is generated

A deductor cannot prepare this certificate in a spreadsheet or word processor. According to the department's FAQ, a certificate is valid only if it is generated from TRACES:

• File the quarterly statement: Form 140 for residents, Form 144 for non-residents.
• Wait for TRACES to process the statement.
• Request and download the certificate from TRACES.
• Sign it digitally or manually and give it to the deductee.

If you later file a correction statement, you issue a corrected Form 131 after it is processed. If a vendor loses a certificate, a duplicate can be downloaded from TRACES.

Why certificates go wrong

Most delays trace back to the statement, not the certificate itself:

• Statement not processed. No processed statement means no certificate on TRACES.
• PAN errors. An invalid PAN stops the deductee from getting credit.
• Challan mismatch. If a challan does not match the statement, the deduction shows as unpaid.
• Late filing. A late statement pushes certificate issue past the 15-day window.
• Corrections not re-issued. Vendors keep holding the old version after a correction.

Fixing these before filing is cheaper than after. Our guides on bulk PAN verification and the Q2 TDS return checklist cover the PAN and statement sides.

Bulk issue checklist for deductors

• Q2 statement (Form 138, 140, 144 or 143, as applicable) filed by 31 October 2026
• Statement status on TRACES shows processed
• Defects (short deduction, short payment, PAN) reviewed and cleared
• Certificates requested for each TAN and quarter
• Certificates downloaded and signed, digitally or manually
• Vendor list matched to PANs so each payee gets the right file
• Certificates sent to vendors by 15 November 2026
• Corrected certificates issued wherever a correction statement was filed
• Copies kept with the filing record for audit

How Figment's products handle this

TaxCPC is Figment's TDS return filing software. Per its product page, it prepares and files returns for Forms 138, 140, 144 and 143, including correction statements. It imports deductee, deduction and challan data from Excel for each TAN, runs bulk PAN verification, matches challans against the CSI file, validates every record before filing, calculates interest and late fees, and generates FVU files for upload. It connects to TRACES to request Conso files and justification reports, and it issues Forms 130, 131 and 133 in bulk. Progress is shown for each TAN and quarter, and custom MIS and compliance reports are available.

On the vendor side, VenCPC is Figment's vendor management software. Its page lists PAN verification (including name match), GSTIN verification, MSME (Udyam) status and lower deduction certificate validity checks, which help keep the vendor master clean before deductions are made.