Q2 TDS Return Due Date 31 October 2026: Forms 138, 140, 144 and 143 Checklist

The Q2 TDS return due date is 31 October 2026. It covers deductions made in the July–September 2026 quarter, the second quarterly reporting period of tax year 2026-27 and the second one under the Income-tax Act, 2025. For finance heads and CA firms that means one more deadline, and this time the forms carry new numbers: Form 138 for salary, Form 140 for resident non-salary payments, Form 144 for non-resident payments and Form 143 for TCS.

This guide explains which form covers what, provides a pre-filing checklist for the next few days, outlines the consequences of errors, and describes how a software-assisted workflow can reduce rejections. Any items that could not be confirmed against the statutory text are listed for the reviewer at the end.

What is due on 31 October 2026

The statement for the July–September quarter is due on 31 October 2026. The filing path is unchanged in substance: prepare the statement, validate it with the FVU (File Validation Utility), and upload it through the TAN login on the e-filing portal. Uploading is not the same as acceptance: a statement can still be rejected and has to be corrected and resubmitted.

Q1 and Q4 follow the long-standing quarterly filing pattern, while the Q3 and Q4 dates are in the future and should be confirmed closer to the relevant dates.

Forms under the Income-tax Act, 2025

The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies to payments and credits from 1 April 2026. Events on or before 31 March 2026 stay under the Income-tax Act, 1961. Deductors with both kinds of events in a year therefore have to be careful about which regime governs each transaction.

The Act also provides a separate challan-cum-statement, Form 141, for specified transactions under Sections 393(1) and 393(2), generally required to be filed within one month from the end of the month in which tax is deducted. These transactions should not be reported again in Forms 140 or 144. Section 393 establishes the general TDS framework, Section 392 deals with salary TDS, and Section 395 covers certificates for lower or nil deduction of tax, subject to the applicable provisions.

Note that the 24Q/26Q/27Q/27EQ labels are still widely used in software, bank challans and vendor conversations, so expect both sets of names for some time.

Pre-filing checklist for Q2

Run this at TAN level, before generating the statement.

Late filing, short deduction and rejection: what it costs

Late or incorrect statements can attract fees, interest and penalties under the applicable provisions. Under the 1961 Act, the familiar ones are:

• Late filing fee under section 234E: ₹200 per day until the statement is filed, limited to the TDS amount for the statement.
• Penalty under section 271H: ₹10,000 to ₹1,00,000 for failure to file on time, or for incorrect particulars, subject to the proviso for late filing with tax and fee paid.
• Interest under section 201(1A): 1% per month for failure to deduct, 1.5% per month for deduction without deposit.
• Disallowance of a part of the related expenditure under section 40(a)(ia) for non-deduction or late deposit (30% of the expense).

Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, the corresponding provisions have been renumbered and, in some cases, their wording has changed. The section references above therefore relate to the Income-tax Act, 1961. The corresponding section numbers and any changes to applicable TDS rates under the 2025 Act should be verified against the current statutory provisions before publication.

Tax audit and ITR deadline: related relief this month

For taxpayers whose accounts are subject to audit, CBDT Circular No. 07/2026, dated 28 September 2026, extended the tax audit report deadline for AY 2026–27 from 30 September to 21 October 2026 and the ITR filing deadline for the same category from 31 October to 21 November 2026. These extensions apply to the specified audit cases and do not, by themselves, extend the TDS statement filing deadline of 31 October 2026. The two deadlines should therefore be treated separately when planning team capacity.

TDS certificates after Q2

After the statement is processed, certificates for non-salary TDS deductions (previously Form 16A and now Form 131 under the Income-tax Act, 2025) are generated through the TRACES system based on the filed data. The certificate must be issued within 15 days of the due date for filing the corresponding quarterly TDS statement, making the Q2 deadline 15 November. Errors in the statement flow directly into the certificate, so it is important to correct them before filing rather than afterwards.

How TaxCPC handles the quarterly TDS return

TaxCPC is Figment's TDS compliance software for 24Q, 26Q, 27Q and 27EQ returns. For a Q2 close, the relevant capabilities are:

• Preparing and validating return statements for each form type, including corrections.
• Checking deductee PAN details and challan mapping before the file is created.
• Reconciling deductions with Form 26AS, so unmatched challans are visible before the due date.
• Handling multiple TANs and branches from one place, with review before filing.

Where a deductor needs to follow up on TDS-related demands or notices after filing, NoticeCPC helps track notices, monitor deadlines, assign responsibilities, and manage follow-ups through closure. The specific capabilities should be cross-checked against the approved content plan before publication.