A challan is a bill receipt, invoice or an official summons, while TDS is Tax Deducted at Source. This is managed by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes.
Challan ITNS 281: Background
The manual method of collecting taxes was replaced by the Online Tax Accounting System (OLTAS) in 2004. It was introduced to avoid human intervention, reduce errors and facilitate transmission of details about tax collected, deposited etc. OLTAS issues a single challan for all tax payments and allows taxpayers to track the status of their challan online.
There are mainly three types of challan used:
- Challan ITNS 280 – For deposition of income tax (self-assessment tax, advance tax, tax on regular assessment).
- Challan 281- For deposition of tax deducted at source (TDS) and tax collected at source TCS).
- Challan ITNS 282- For depositing gift, tax, wealth tax, Securities Transaction Tax, etc.
Challan ITNS 281:Compliance for Challan ITNS is issued when TDS and TCS is deposited by the taxpayer.
Challan ITNS 281: How to file
There are two processes for filing a challan ITNS 281:
- Online process
- Offline process
Online Process: E-payment TDS
Go to the tin-nsdl website and select Challan No./ITNS 281.When it is time to pay the taxes the following details will have to be filled in the form.
-
- Select the deductees: Select the people on whose behalf the payment has been deducted. There are two options:
- 0020: Company deductees
- 0021: Non-company deductees
- Assessment year (AY): The respective AY for which the payment is being made. For instance, if the payment is made on 30th June 2022, the respective assessment year will be 2023-24.
- Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN): TAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number issued to the people who are supposed to deduct taxes.
- Kinds of payment
- Select the deductees: Select the people on whose behalf the payment has been deducted. There are two options:
200: If TDS/TCS is a regular transaction, select this option.
400: to be selected if the Income Tax Authorities have demanded to make the payment.
- Nature of payment: From the drop-down menu, select the section under which TDS/TCS has been deducted.
- Payment details: Here, enter the Income Tax, surcharge and filing fees (if applicable). The date and bank branch also needs to be entered along with this.
Click on “submit to bank” and you will be taken to your bank’s portal to complete the payment. Once your transaction has been processed, a challan counterfoil will be generated with the CIN No., payment details and bank name through which the e-payment has been made.
Offline process: E-payment TDS
For the offline process, taxpayers can visit a payment collecting bank and submit the challan to pay. Payment can be made through cash or cheque. On submitting the challan, a counterfoil receipt will be rubber-stamped and given as proof of submission to the taxpayer.
Due dates for payment of TDS
- TDS deducted on payments (except for purchase of property): before the 7th of next month.
- TDS deducted on a property purchase: 30th of the next month.
- TDS deducted in march: April 30.
If there is a delay, an interest starts collecting at the rate of 1.5% per month or part of the month from the date of deduction.
Challan ITNS 281: How to check the status
Taxpayers can check the status on the tin-isdl website at https://onlineservices.tin.egov-nsdl.com/etaxnew/tdsnontds.jsp.
- The status can be viewed in two ways:
- CIN Based View
- TIN Based View
- If you want to view the status from CIN Based view, fill in the following details from your challan:
- BSR Code
- Challan date
- Serial number of challan
- Amount
- To view the status from TIN Based View, fill in the following details from your challan:
- TAN
- Challan date