About TDS Notice Reply
Reply to TRACES default notices Section 200A intimation Section 201 short-deduction order and TDS demand. Forms handled: Form 26A, Section 200A, Section 201, TRACES default. Legal basis: Sections 200A/201/206C of Income Tax Act.
Plain-English glossary for this service
Short Deduction Default is the default head raised under the Justification Report where the Centralised Processing Cell — TDS determines that the deductor has applied a rate lower than the rate prescribed under Chapter XVII-B, or has not applied the higher rate triggered by Section 206AA for invalid permanent account numbers.
Section 40(a)(i) Disallowance is the full disallowance of interest, royalty, fees for technical services or other sums payable to a non-resident on which tax under Chapter XVII-B has not been deducted or deposited. Unlike clause (ia), the disallowance is one hundred per cent of the expense, although deduction is permitted in the year of subsequent payment.
Deductee is the person from whose income tax has been deducted at source by the payer. The deductee is entitled to claim credit for the tax deducted against the eventual self-assessed liability under Section 199, provided the deduction is reflected in Form 26AS or the Annual Information Statement.
Assessee in Default is the statutory characterisation under Section 201(1) of a person who has failed to deduct tax at source under Chapter XVII-B, or having deducted, has failed to pay it to the credit of the Central Government. The characterisation triggers exposure to recovery, interest, penalty and prosecution under associated provisions.
PAN-Aadhaar Inoperative Status arises where the PAN holder has failed to link Aadhaar by the deadline prescribed in CBDT Circular 3 of 2023. An inoperative PAN is treated as if PAN has not been furnished, triggering Section 206AA twenty per cent. Linking after the deadline cures the status only prospectively per CBDT Circular 6 of 2024.
Annual Information Statement is the consolidated information return maintained under Section 285BB and read with Rule 114-I, accessible on the e-filing portal. It carries a wider information set than Form 26AS — interest, dividend, securities transactions, foreign remittances — and is consumed by deductees during return preparation under Section 139.
Tax Deducted at Source is the mechanism under Chapter XVII-B of the Income-tax Act 1961 whereby the payer of certain specified sums withholds tax at prescribed rates at the time of credit or payment, whichever is earlier, and deposits it to the credit of the Central Government on behalf of the recipient.
Return Preparation Utility is the software tool published by the Protean for the preparation of quarterly TDS and TCS statements in the format prescribed under Rule 31A. The utility consumes the Conso File for correction filings and exports a text file for validation through the File Validation Utility.
Engineering Analysis Centre ratio is the principle laid down by the Supreme Court in Engineering Analysis Centre of Excellence v. Commissioner of Income-tax [2021] 432 ITR 471, holding that payments for shrink-wrapped software and end-user licences to non-residents are not royalty under Article 12 of Indian double-taxation treaties, and Section 195 obligations do not attach.
Section 40(a)(ia) Second Proviso, inserted by the Finance Act 2012, extends the Form 26A mechanism of the first proviso to Section 201(1) into the disallowance arena — where the deductor is not deemed in default for the deductee's substantive compliance, the corresponding thirty per cent expense disallowance also stands negatived.
Faceless Appeal Scheme is the procedural scheme notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes under Section 250(6B) and Section 250(6C), under which appeals before the Commissioner (Appeals) are heard by the National Faceless Appeal Centre at Delhi through electronic communication without personal hearing unless specifically requested.
Section 271H Penalty is the ten-thousand-to-one-lakh-rupee penalty for failure to file a TDS statement or for filing an incorrect statement. Section 271H(3) gives full immunity where the deductor deposits the TDS, applicable interest and Section 234E fee, and files the statement, within one year of the due date.
Operative provisions cited on this page
Every claim on this page can be traced back to a section or rule below.
Sub-section (1) of Section 200 of the Income-tax Act 1961 casts an obligation upon every person deducting any sum in accordance with the provisions of Chapter XVII-B to pay the sum so deducted to the credit of the Central Government, within the prescribed time and in the prescribed mode. It is to be noted that the obligation is fastened on the deductor in his capacity as an agent of the revenue, and the deposit is a precondition for the deductee being entitled to the corresponding credit. Sub-rule (1) of Rule 30 prescribes seven days from the end of the month of deduction, except for March deductions where the cut-off is the thirtieth day of April.
View sourceSub-section (3) of Section 200 requires every person deducting tax to deliver, within the prescribed time after the end of each quarter, a quarterly statement to the prescribed authority in the form and manner prescribed by Rule 31A. It is to be noted that Forms 24Q, 26Q, 27Q and 27EQ correspond, respectively, to salaries, non-salary domestic payments, payments to non-residents and tax collection at source. The seven-day grace beyond the thirty-first day of the month following the quarter, made available for the fourth-quarter Form 24Q, has been progressively curtailed by successive amendments to Rule 31A.
View sourceSub-section (1) of Section 200A provides for processing of every quarterly statement filed under Section 200(3) by the Centralised Processing Cell — TDS at Ghaziabad. Clauses (a) to (d) thereunder authorise the arithmetical computation of the sum deductible, the interest payable, the fee chargeable under Section 234E and the sum payable by, or refundable to, the deductor. Clause (c), inserted by the Finance Act 2015 with effect from the first day of June 2015, is the statutory hook for adjustment of fee under Section 234E. It is to be noted that an intimation under sub-section (1) is appealable before the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) under Section 246A(1)(a).
View sourceSub-section (1) of Section 201 provides that where a person who is required to deduct tax fails to deduct, or, having deducted, fails to pay the whole or any part of the tax to the credit of the Central Government, he shall be deemed to be an assessee in default in respect of such tax. The first proviso, inserted with effect from the first day of July 2012, carves out a relief — the deductor shall not be deemed in default if the deductee has furnished a return under Section 139, has taken the receipt into the computation of total income and paid the tax due, and the deductor furnishes a certificate in Form 26A from an accountant.
View sourceSub-section (1A) of Section 201 prescribes simple interest at one per cent for every month or part of a month from the date on which such tax was deductible to the date on which it is deducted, and at one and one-half per cent for every month or part of a month from the date on which it was deducted to the date on which it is actually paid. It is to be noted that the second proviso truncates the one per cent leg up to the date on which the deductee furnishes the return under Section 139, where the first proviso to sub-section (1) is invoked through Form 26A. Sub-section (1A) is mandatory and not subject to assessing officer discretion.
View sourceSub-section (3) of Section 201, as substituted by the Finance Act 2014 and amended by the Finance Act 2022, provides that no order under sub-section (1) shall be passed at any time after the expiry of seven years from the end of the financial year in which payment is made or credit is given, or two years from the end of the financial year in which the correction statement is delivered, whichever is later. It is to be noted that the seven-year outer ceiling, extended from six years by the Finance Act 2022, applies to all pending and future proceedings, subject to the saving provision in the Explanation.
View sourceSub-section (1) of Section 220 provides that any amount specified as payable in a notice of demand under Section 156 shall be paid within thirty days of the service of the notice at the place and to the person mentioned in the notice. The Assessing Officer may, with the previous approval of the Joint Commissioner, reduce this period to less than thirty days where it is detrimental to revenue to allow the full period. It is to be noted that an intimation under Section 200A is itself deemed to be a notice of demand under Section 156 by virtue of sub-section (1A) of that section.
View sourceSub-section (2) of Section 220 provides that if the amount specified in the notice of demand under Section 156 is not paid within the period of thirty days, the assessee shall be liable to pay simple interest at one per cent for every month or part of a month from the day immediately following the end of that period. It is to be noted that this interest is in addition to the interest already computed under Section 201(1A) up to the date of the demand notice, and the two streams are not mutually exclusive. The Board has clarified in Circular 334 of 1982 that interest under sub-section (2) is automatic and not discretionary.
View sourceForms used in this engagement
Certifies that the deductee has filed return, included the receipt and paid the tax, thereby extinguishing the deductor's deemed-default exposure.
Carries deductee-wise particulars of tax deducted from salary payments under Section 192, with Annexure II in the fourth quarter for salary computation.
Carries deductee-wise particulars of tax deducted on payments to residents other than salaries — Sections 194 to 194T as applicable.
Carries deductee-wise particulars of tax deducted on payments to non-residents under Section 195, with country code, residential status and DTAA rate fields.
Carries collectee-wise particulars of tax collected under Section 206C, covering scrap, timber, motor vehicles, foreign remittance and overseas tour package items.
Issued to salaried employees evidencing tax deducted under Section 192, carrying Part A from TRACES and Part B with detailed salary computation.
Issued to deductees evidencing tax deducted on payments other than salary, downloaded from TRACES with verifiable certificate-number for credit reconciliation.
Consolidated tax credit statement reflecting tax deducted, tax collected, advance and self-assessment tax paid, refunds and high-value transactions, accessed via the e-filing portal.
Issued to collectees by the collector under Section 206C(5), downloaded from TRACES, evidencing the amount collected and deposited.
Used to deposit tax deducted at source and tax collected at source to the credit of the Central Government, with separate codes for company and non-company deductees.
Filed by the recipient to the jurisdictional Assessing Officer (TDS) to obtain a certificate for nil or lower deduction where the recipient's estimated tax liability so justifies.
Prescribed form for filing the first appeal against an intimation under Section 200A or an order under Section 201, accompanied by grounds, statement of facts and prescribed fee.
Compliance deadlines that matter
Miss any of these and the next consequence kicks in automatically.
Section 200A Intimation vs Section 201 Default Order
Three named tax practitioners — not a faceless outsourcer
B.Com, CA Inter, GST Practitioner. 15+ years and 500+ Chennai engagements. Leads the notice-reply and CMA project-report practice.
B.Com. 15+ years in statutory and ROC compliance, partnership-firm matters, and audit-support engagements.
B.Com, M.Com. 5+ years on monthly GST returns, GSTR-2B reconciliation, and ASMT-10 first-touch responses.