Form 24Q — The Quarterly Salary TDS Return Explained

Form 24Q is the quarterly statement of TDS on salary that every employer in India must file with the Income Tax Department. It reconciles salary paid, TDS deducted and challan deposited — and powers each employee's Form 16 and 26AS.

Filing due dates

Structure of Form 24Q

• Annexure I — quarterly deductee details: every employee whose TDS was deducted, with PAN, section (192), amount paid, TDS, challan number, BSR code, deposit date.
• Annexure II — filed only with the Q4 statement, summarizing the full year's salary, deductions, exemptions, regime, Chapter VI-A deductions and final tax liability per employee. This drives Part B of Form 16.

Filing process (step-by-step)

1. Prepare the RPU (Return Preparation Utility) / any compliant software file.
2. Validate via FVU (File Validation Utility) — checks CSI file consistency against the OLTAS CSI.
3. Upload the .fvu file via the TRACES / e-Filing portal using TAN credentials or DSC.
4. On success, a Provisional Receipt Number is issued — use this to download TDS certificates (Form 16 Part A).
5. Correct any TDS-CPC notices of short deduction, late deposit, or PAN mismatch via correction return.

Common errors that trigger TDS-CPC notices

• Invalid or inactive PAN — leads to TDS being treated as deducted at 20% under Section 206AA.
• Challan-amount mismatch with OLTAS — the challan cannot be mapped and payment is considered unrealised.
• Late filing — ₹200/day under Section 234E until the return is filed.
• Incorrect section code — entering non-192 codes for salary produces mismatches.
• Missing Annexure II in Q4 — blocks Form 16 generation for the whole year.

Penalties for non-filing or late filing

• Section 234E — ₹200 per day of delay, capped at total TDS amount
• Section 271H — ₹10,000 to ₹1 lakh for non-filing beyond 1 year
• Section 201(1A) — interest at 1.5% per month on late-deposited TDS

How Vergado automates Form 24Q

Vergado consolidates every employee's salary, TDS and challan data each quarter, generates a validated FVU file, uploads it to TRACES, and retrieves Form 16 Part A on your behalf. Annexure II is built automatically from each employee's declared regime and investment proofs. When TDS-CPC issues a short-deduction or PAN notice, Vergado surfaces it in the compliance dashboard with a one-click correction return.