TDS Challan ITNS 281 – Filing, Format, Eligibility & Rule

What is Challan ITNS 281?

In 2004, the manual process of collection of taxes was replaced by Online Tax Accounting System (OLTAS). It was introduced with an intention to minimize human intervention, thereby reducing errors and facilitating online transmission of details of tax collected, deposited, refunded etc. OLTAS issues a single copy of a Challan and enables taxpayers to track the status of their challans or e-challan deposited in banks online.

What are the types available?

• Challan ITNS 280 – issued for depositing income tax (includes self-assessment tax, advance tax, tax on regular assessment)
• Challan ITNS 281 – issued for depositing Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) and Tax Collected at Source (TCS)
• Challan ITNS 282 – issued for depositing gift tax, wealth tax, Securities Transaction Tax (STT) and other direct taxes.

What are the requirements?

Challan ITNS 281 is issued, when the taxpayer deposits TDS and TCS. Therefore, it has to comply with the timelines laid out for deducting and depositing tax.

What are the due dates?

• TDS deducted on payments (excluding the purchase of property): 7th of the subsequent month.
• TDS deducted on the purchase of property: 30th of the subsequent month.
• TDS deducted in the month of March: 30th April.

In case of delay in deposit of tax, an interest is levied at the rate of 1.5% per month or part of the month from the date of deduction.

What are the process of Filing Challan ITNS 281?

There are two processes for filing Challan ITNS 281:

• Online process
• Offline process

At the time of payment of taxes the following details have to be filled in Challan ITNS 281.

What are the Online Process?

Select the Deductees: Select the appropriate deductee i.e. on whose behalf the payment has been deducted. There are two options:

• 0020: Company deductees
• 0021: Non-company deductees

Assessment Year (AY): The relevant AY for which the payment is being made. As an example, If the payment is made on 30th June 2017 (i.e. relating to FY 2017-18), the relevant AY will be 2018-19

Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN): TAN is 10-digit alphanumeric number issued to the persons who are required to deduct or collect tax.

Type of Payment:

• 200: should be selected if the TDS/ TCS is a regular transaction
• 400: should be selected if the payment is being made for a demand raised by the income tax authorities.

Nature of Payment: The section under which TDS/TCS has been deducted has to be selected from the drop-down list.

Details of Payment: Enter the income tax, surcharge and late filing fees (if applicable). also needs to be entered along with the date and bank branch.

Post-filling in all the details, click on submit to bank and you will be redirected to your bank’s portal to process the payment. Once the transaction is successfully processed, a challan counterfoil shall be displayed containing the CIN No., payment details, and bank name through which e-payment has been made.

What are the Offline Process?

For the offline process, the taxpayer can make the payment by personally visiting the bank and submitting a challan. A note has to be taken that the payment can be made via cheque or cash. On submission of the challan, bank will issue a counterfoil receipt back-stamped as a proof of submission.

If you wish to Check the status of Challan?

For the taxpayers to check the status of the Challan online, you can go to the TIN-NSDL portal. There are two modes to view the status:

• CIN based view
• TAN based view

To view the status through the CIN based mode, enter the following details from your challan:

• BSR code
• Challan date
• Challan serial number
• Amount

To views the status through the TAN based mode, enter the following details from your challan:

• TAN
• Challan date

Find Your ITNS-281 Challan here:Challan-No-ITNS-281