TDS deposit due date: challan mapping and interest, in practice

The deposit clock in one view

The TDS deposit due date is the last day to hand the government the tax you already deducted. It is a separate clock from the TDS return, and it is not a single date. It depends on who deducted the tax and, for a few payments, on the section under which it was deducted. Rule 30 of the Income-tax Rules sets these dates, so treat the table below as your baseline and confirm any procedural change through an official CBDT source.

Map the challan to the deduction

The deposit instrument follows the type of deduction. Using the wrong one is a common filing error, so settle it before you pay.

1. Regular TDS and TCS: use challan ITNS-281. This covers salary, contractor, professional, rent under 194-I, and most other deductions, where you deposit across deductees for a period and file a quarterly statement separately.
2. Property, rent, and 194M cases: use a challan-cum-statement, which combines the payment and the reporting. Form 26QB for property under 194-IA, Form 26QC for rent under 194-IB, and Form 26QD for the 194M payments.

The 30-day window in the table applies to the challan-cum-statement cases. For ITNS-281 deposits, the 7th of the next month rule with the March exception applies.

How section 201(1A) interest is computed

Section 201(1A) charges two different rates for two different failures. Reading them as one rate is the error that produces the wrong number.

Both rates run per month or part of a month, so any part of a calendar month counts as a whole month. The two rates above are the standard rates under section 201(1A); treat them as the general rule and confirm the current figure on an official source, since rates in the Act can be revised.

A worked example on the part-of-a-month rule

Suppose you deduct 50,000 rupees of TDS on a contractor payment on 20 June. The deposit due date is 7 July. If you deposit on 9 July, the tax was deducted on time but deposited late, so the 1.5% late deposit rate applies.

• The period runs from the date of deduction (June) to the date of deposit (July). That touches two calendar months.
• Two months at 1.5% is 3% of 50,000, which is 1,500 rupees of interest, even though the payment was only two days late.

The lesson is the calendar boundary, not the number of days. A deposit that slips from the 7th to the 8th crosses into another part-month and can add a full 1.5%. This is why the deposit date is worth hitting exactly rather than treating it as approximate.

Defaults that trigger interest and notices

Interest and notices usually follow a small set of recurring mistakes.

• Applying the 7th of the next month rule to a March deduction instead of the 30 April date.
• Depositing property TDS on the 7th instead of within 30 days, or the reverse, missing the 30-day window entirely.
• Using ITNS-281 for a property purchase instead of Form 26QB, which leaves the deposit unmatched.
• Confusing the section 234E statement late fee, tied to the TDS return, with the section 201(1A) deposit interest.
• Ignoring a TRACES default intimation, which usually names the exact period and amount so you can correct it.

How to confirm your date on official sites

1. Open the Income Tax e-Filing portal and read the home banners for any live TDS notice.
2. Open the tax calendar for the month your deposit falls due.
3. Use TRACES for statement status, default intimations, and correction workflows.
4. Scan latest news for CBDT circulars about TDS procedures or dates.

Settle your deductor type and the section first, since that decides which row of the deposit table applies. The portal calendar then confirms the exact date for the month.

Where Complied AI fits

The deposit date rarely changes, but the procedure around it moves through CBDT circulars and notifications that are easy to miss in a rumour cycle. Complied AI keeps CBDT updates in one feed so you can open the source document behind a change instead of trusting a forward. When you need the rule itself, read the Income Tax Act sections next to the update rather than only the headline date.