Form 24Q - TDS Return on Salary Payments

Form 24Q TDS on Salary

Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) is the collection of income tax for Indians. The collection and process of the tax is governed under the Indian Income Tax Act of 1961. These provisions require a deduction of a prescribed percentage for all coverage.

The processing and collection of the tax is managed by the Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT). It is part a of the Department of Revenue managed by Indian Revenue Service (IRS). TDS is declared by filling up and filing of Form 24Q with the Income Tax Department.

Form 24Q Format

Here are the main pointers one needs to keep in their mind about the 24Q Format and how to fill it:

1. The file has to be generated in ASCII Format with "txt" as filename extension for online upload.
2. Each record which includes the last record should begin on a new line as well as end with a new line character. The Hex Values includes: "0D" & "0A".
3. The constant values such as 'Record Type' and 'Upload Type' are required to be mentioned in BLOCK letters only. In the case of 'Record Type' 'File Header' will be indicated as 'FH' instead of 'fh'.
4. All amount fields have to be filled with decimal value up to a precision of 2 digits. For example: 900.70 or 9878.00. It may be noted that in case of certain amount fields where fractional portion is not allowed, the value should contain decimal point followed by two zeros i.e. value - 2345 will not be allowed, whereas value - 2345.00 will be allowed.
5. When filling in the rate at which tax is deducted (DD), the decimal has to have a precision value of 4. For example: If the rate is 7 then it has to be indicated as 7.0000
6. Any mention of M indicates that the field is a mandatory field and O indicates that it is optional for the field to be filled up.
7. The format for all the dates should be filled in the following way: 'ddmmyyyy'. None of the dates should be a date from the future.
8. Nil challans or transfer vouchers are required mandatorily to have deductee records with a flag 'A' or 'B' to be filled in the remarks in the case of lower or non-deduction.
9. Annexure I and Annexure II are also forms that require submission along with this form. Annexure I has to be filled in for all four quarters of the year.
10. Annexure II needs to be filed only for the final quarter of the year.

Form 24Q Online

The form can be downloaded and submitted online along with the required documents as well as submitted in person/company/organization.

However, for certain people, it is compulsory to be submitted online. This includes:

1. If the deductor is a government office
2. If the deductor is a company's principal officer
3. If the deductor is required to have their accounts audited for the prior year under Section 44AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
4. If there are 20 or more records of deductees in a statement for any quarter of a particular financial year.

Form 24Q and 26Q

Both of these forms are almost the same, except that Form 24Q is meant for declaration of TDS from salary and Form 26Q is meant for declaration of TDS from other sources of income.

The sections which define the sources of income in the form 26Q can be used for reference to fill in the declaration form include sections 193, 194, 194A, 194BB, 194C, 194D, 194EE, 194F, 194G, 194H, 194I, 194J, 194LA and rule 31A. (The sections are explained in the Annexure in the Form).