Tedious Returns……

After quitting his job, Vikram decided to become an entrepreneur. He started a soft-skills training centre that was registered as a private limited company. Over a course of time, he had grown to become one of the leading trainers in the country and his tills were ringing non-stop! One fine day, he received a notice from the Income Tax Department stating that he had not filed TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) returns for the past so many years and suitable action would be taken if he still failed to do the same. He was shell-shocked!

On the advice of his friend, he had obtained a TAN number and was regularly remitting the TDS amount to the department. So he wondered as to how he was liable in any way. Then it dawned on him that the notice had specifically mentioned that he had not filed TDS returns…… But, he had a doubt about what TDS returns was about and was it not covered under his regular Income Tax returns? With a truckload of questions that kept churning his mind, he approached his friend, who went on to explain the entire process.

His friend explained to him that TDS returns are in fact different from the Income Tax returns and are filed so as to let the department know the list of people, on whose behalf the tax has been deducted. There are 3 major types of returns, namely:

• Form 24Q – Relating to TDS on salaries
• Form 26Q – Relating to TDS other than TDS on salaries
• Form 27Q – Relating to TDS on payments made to Non-Residents

Next, he explained that the TDS returns are to be filed on a quarterly basis i.e. for every 3 months, a TDS return needs to be filed. The quarterly returns should be accompanied by a certain Form 27A that needs to be signed by the person responsible for deducting the tax. The due dates for filing the returns are as follows:
 

Continued in next part…