The Income-tax Act, 2025 and the Income-tax Rules, 2026 apply from 1 April 2026. For TDS compliance, the most visible operational change is the move from familiar form numbers such as 24Q, 26Q and 27Q to a new numbered series.
The change is mainly structural and procedural. The Income Tax Department has clarified that TDS rates and monetary thresholds remain unchanged. However, deductors must use the correct Act, section reference, tax year and filing form based on the date on which the TDS obligation arises.
Old forms and their new equivalents
| Earlier form | New form | Purpose from Tax Year 2026–27 |
|---|---|---|
| Form 24Q | Form 138 | Quarterly TDS statement for salary. It also covers specified banks reporting tax deducted from pension or eligible interest income. |
| Form 26Q | Form 140 | Quarterly TDS statement for non-salary payments to resident deductees, including professional fees, contractual payments, commission, brokerage and rent. |
| Forms 26QB, 26QC, 26QD and 26QE | Form 141 | Unified challan-cum-statement for specified PAN-based TDS transactions involving resident deductees. |
| Form 26QF | Form 142 | PAN-based quarterly statement for qualifying Virtual Digital Asset exchanges that deposit tax under the prescribed exchange mechanism. |
| Form 27EQ | Form 143 | Quarterly statement of tax collected at source. |
| Form 27Q | Form 144 | Quarterly TDS statement for non-salary payments to non-residents, foreign companies and specified residents but not ordinarily resident. |
| Forms 15G and 15H framework | Form 121 | Declaration of nil estimated tax liability for specified payments, enabling the payer not to deduct tax where the statutory conditions are satisfied. |
Form 141: four statements become one
Form 141 is the most important consolidation for individual and HUF deductors. It replaces four separate challan-cum-statements:
- Schedule A: rent paid by an individual or HUF—earlier Form 26QC;
- Schedule B: transfer of immovable property—earlier Form 26QB;
- Schedule C: payments by an individual or HUF to contractors or professionals—earlier Form 26QD; and
- Schedule D: transfer of Virtual Digital Assets by an individual or HUF—earlier Form 26QE.
Despite being unified, one Form 141 can report only one transaction category. Separate forms are required for different categories, different months of deduction, or a mix of corporate and non-corporate deductees. The form applies only where the deductee is resident.
Form 141 must be filed—and the deducted amount paid—within one month from the end of the month in which tax is deducted. Filing is through PAN login on the e-Filing portal. Corrections are handled through the TRACES portal.
Quarterly statements: due dates continue
The official user manuals prescribe the familiar quarterly due-date cycle for Forms 138, 140, 142, 143 and 144:
| Quarter | Period | 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 of the following year |
What deductors should do now
- Identify the triggering date. Review the earlier of credit or payment to decide whether the old or new Act applies.
- Update section mappings. Payments from 1 April 2026 must use the new section references, including the consolidated tables under sections 392 to 394.
- Use the latest RPU and FVU. For quarterly forms, generate the file with the current Protean utility and ensure its validation version matches the e-Filing portal.
- Select the correct tax year and form. Wrong period, form type, TAN or upload type can cause rejection even where the deduction and payment are otherwise correct.
- Keep old-period corrections separate. Corrections relating to periods up to 31 March 2026 continue under the old Act and the old form numbers.
- Reconcile early. Match challans, statements, TRACES processing and deductee credits before issuing certificates or closing the quarter.
What has not changed
The renumbering of forms does not by itself change TDS rates or monetary thresholds. It also does not convert an old-period transaction into a new-Act transaction merely because tax is deposited or a correction is filed after 1 April 2026. The date on which the obligation arose remains central.
For deductors, the real risk is operational: using the wrong form, old section code, incorrect tax year or mismatched utility version. A clean cut-off exercise and updated compliance checklist can prevent most transition errors.
Information reviewed against official Income Tax Department material available on 17 September 2026.