Deadline to claim pending TDS credit for FY 2007-08 till Q3 FY 2017-18 is March 31, 2025; do this now to file a TDS correction statement

March 31, 2025 is the deadline for filing correction statements of tax deducted at source (TDS) returns for FY 2007-08 to Q3 of FY 2018-19. This deadline is important for those individual taxpayers who are facing the issue of TDS mismatch between actual deduction and what is shown in Form 26AS or Annual Information Statement (AIS). One of the common reasons for such a mismatch in TDS reports could be because the TDS deducting entity like banks, employers, etc reported the wrong amount to the tax department who then based on this report prepared your Form 26AS an AIS. To solve such problems , complaining to the tax department won’t help as much as requesting the TDS deducting entity to file a TDS return correction statement.

Why March 31, 2025 is the deadline to file TDS correction statements for FY 2007-08 till Q3 of FY 2018-19?

According to an email dated March 21, 2025 by Protean eGov Technologies, the entity who manages the Tax Information Network (TIN) portal, here are the details:

• As per amendment in section 200(3) of the Income-tax Act vide FINANCE (No.2) ACT,2024, no correction statement shall be delivered after the expiry of six years from the end of the financial year in which the statement referred to in sub-section (3) is required to be delivered.
• In view of the above, correction statements pertaining to Financial Year 2007-08 to 2018-19 shall be accepted only up-to March 31, 2025. Deductors/Collectors and other Stakeholders may kindly take note.
• No TDS/TCS correction statement will be allowed after the expiry of six years from the end of financial year in which the original statement was filed
• For quarter 1, 2 and 3, corrections can be made within six subsequent financial years. For Q4, corrections can be filed within six subsequent financial years plus one additional year as the filing due date for Q4 fall in subsequent financial year.
• This change is applicable from April 1, 2025 and to forms 24Q, 26Q, 27Q and 27EQ.

Mihir Tanna, associate director, S.K Patodia LLP says: “March 31, 2025 is the deadline to file revised TDS returns for FY 2007-08 up to Q1, 2, and 3 of FY 2018-19. This interpretation is based on the amendment introduced by Finance Act 2024.”

The due date to file TDS correction statement for Q4 of FY 2018-19 is March 31, 2026

S. Vasudevan, Executive Partner, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys explains why the deadline to file a TDS correction statement is March 31, 2025 for FY 2007-08 till Q3 of FY 2018-19 and not Q4 of FY 2018-19.

The due date to file TDS correction statement for Q4 of FY 2018-19 is March 31, 2026 i.e next year.

“As per section 200 read with Rule 31A of the Income Tax Rules, 1962, the due date to furnish TDS statement for quarter ending on 31st March of any financial year is 31st May of the financial year immediately following the financial year in which the deduction is made. Thus, for Q4 of FY 2018-19, the due date to furnish the TDS statement is 31st May 2019 i.e. the due date will fall in FY 2019-20,” says Vasudevan.
Vasudevan explains: “In view of the amendment made, the time limit to file a correction statement for Q4 of FY 2018-19 will be 6 years from the end of financial year i.e., FY 2019-20 in which the original statement is required to be delivered. Accordingly, TDS correction statement can be submitted on May 1, 2025 since the due date to file revised TDS return is 31st March 2026.”
Ashish Mehta, Partner at Khaitan & Co agrees with Vasudevan and adds: “The due date for TDS statement for Q4 of FY 2018-19 was 30 May 2019 and therefore, as per amended provisions TDS correction statement can be filed within six years from end of financial year in which it was required to be filed, i.e. on or before 31 March 2026.”

Why should you request the TDS deductor to file a TDS correction statement?

The primary purpose of filing a correct TDS return is to record the amount of the transaction. If the TDS amount itself is wrongly reported then the tax department gets the wrong impression about the transaction’s value.

“TDS return correction feature ensures ultimate accuracy in filings and employees / bank deposit holders (deductees in general) can see their tax portals and ensure they are getting the correct credits and contest / object to entries that don’t belong to them (which can then be rectified by the deductors,” says Mehta.

Filing a correction request for an incorrect report of TDS can help in eliminating the tax demand notice. The incidence of tax demand notice occurs when you claim credit for TDS in your ITR but either its report is missing in the AIS/Form 26AS or its amount mentioned is lower than what you claimed in the ITR.

“For Employees and other individuals whose tax have been deducted by their Employers or banks, discrepancies arising in the TDS statements can lead to incorrect reporting of tax deductions and eventually mismatches with the actual tax payments,” says Sanjoli Maheshwari, Executive Director, Nangia Andersen India.

When the TDS correction statement is filed by the TDS deducting entity to fix any error, it can also result in tax refunds.

“With the correction statement filed, the Taxpayers can rectify the said errors, claim correct TDS amounts, compute correct tax liability and eligible refunds (if any), by considering the option of filing revised return, updated return (as per the prescribed conditions and timelines), or claiming the same during the course of scrutiny proceedings (if the case gets selected for scrutiny),” says Maheshwari.

Tanna explains what is the significance of this deadline. “After 31st March 2025, no TDS correction statement can be filed pertaining to Financial Year 2007-08 to Q3 of 2018-19 and it can impact salaried taxpayers too,” he says.

He cites an hypothetical situation where there was a financial crisis in one company and the employer could not pay salary to the employee for FY 2017-18. After a few years, employer managed to arrange a fund to make part payment of salary after deducting TDS. However, the employer could not discharge TDS liability. However the employee who did not knew about this offered their salary income for tax and claimed TDS in Income Tax Return (ITR). As a result these employees would have likely to have got a tax demand notice as the TDS credit they claimed was not available since the employer did not deposit it.

“If an employee has proof of TDS deduction (like salary slip/communications with working etc), the employee can file an application for granting TDS credit but it will not be easier for the employee to get credit,” says Tanna.

Tanna explains why a clarification is needed from the government in such cases soon. “In the above scenario, if employers manage to deposit TDS in April 2025; we are not sure how TDS demand (employer) and Income Tax demand (employee) will be deleted. If the employer decides to pay back TDS amount to the employee, the employee will be required to pay interest on income tax demand and the employer will continue to be TDS defaulter. Penal consequences will follow ,” says Tanna.

What are the amended timelines for filing TDS correction statements for FY 2019-20 till FY 2022-23?

The due date to file revised TDS return for the Q4 FY 2019-20, FY 2020-21, FY 2021-22 and FY 2022-23 are as follows:

Source: Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys
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