TDS

TCS Return Due Date: Form 27EQ (Now Form 143) Filing Guide for FY 2026-27

8/16/2026

Tax Collected at Source (TCS) is the mirror image of TDS. Instead of the payer deducting tax before making a payment, the seller (or collector) adds tax on top of the sale price and deposits it with the government — for example, a scrap dealer, a liquor vendor, or a bank handling an overseas remittance under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS). If you collect TCS, you must deposit it monthly and report it in a quarterly statement — historically Form 27EQ.

This filing has recently changed its name and its due date. From FY 2026-27 (transactions from 1 April 2026 onward), Form 27EQ has been replaced by Form 143 under the Income-tax Act, 2025 and Income-tax Rules, 2026 (CBDT Notification No. 22/2026, G.S.R. 198(E), dated 20 March 2026). Who needs to file, and what gets reported, hasn't changed — only the form number and the due-date calendar have. This guide covers both, since "Form 27EQ" is still what most people search for and still governs any return for periods before FY 2026-27.

What is Form 27EQ?

Form 27EQ (now Form 143) is the quarterly statement every TCS collector must file, summarising the tax collected and deposited during the quarter — collectee-wise, challan-wise. It's filed electronically using TAN, through the Return Preparation Utility (RPU) provided by Protean (formerly NSDL e-Gov), validated into a .fvu file, and submitted via the income-tax e-filing portal / TRACES.

  • Up to FY 2025-26 (transactions till 31 March 2026): Form 27EQ, filed under section 206C of the Income-tax Act, 1961, read with Rule 31AA.
  • From FY 2026-27 (transactions from 1 April 2026): Form 143, filed under section 397(3)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, read with Rule 219 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026.

Whichever form applies to your quarter, the obligation is the same: report every collection, every challan, and every collectee's PAN correctly, or the statement won't process cleanly.

Who Must Collect and File TCS

TCS applies to specified sellers and collectors, not every business. Common examples:

  • Sellers of scrap, timber, tendu leaves, and certain minerals
  • Sellers of liquor for human consumption
  • Licensees/lessees of parking lots, toll plazas, and mining or quarrying rights
  • Authorised dealers collecting TCS on foreign remittances under LRS and on overseas tour packages (section 206C(1G))

Note that TCS on the sale of goods above ₹50 lakh under section 206C(1H) — which used to apply broadly to sellers with turnover above ₹10 crore — was removed with effect from 1 April 2025 and no longer applies for FY 2025-26 onward. If that provision was your only TCS trigger, you likely have no TCS obligation now (the corresponding TDS on purchase of goods under section 194Q, which falls on the buyer, is unaffected).

Separately, the LRS threshold was raised to ₹10 lakh (from ₹7 lakh) effective 1 April 2025, and TCS rates on LRS remittances vary by purpose and have been revised more than once. If LRS or tour-package TCS applies to you, confirm the current rate and threshold on the income-tax portal before applying it.

Any person or entity responsible for collecting tax under these provisions must obtain a TAN, deposit the tax collected, and file the quarterly statement, regardless of business structure.

Due Dates

There are two separate deadlines — don't confuse them. The TCS deposit (payment) is due monthly. The TCS return (statement) is due quarterly, and its due date changed starting FY 2026-27.

1. Monthly TCS deposit (payment) due dates — unchanged by the new Act:

TCS collected inDue date for deposit
April – February7th of the following month
March30th April

2. Quarterly TCS return (statement) due dates:

QuarterPeriodForm 27EQ due date (up to Q4 FY 2025-26)Form 143 due date (from Q1 FY 2026-27)
Q1Apr – Jun15 July31 July
Q2Jul – Sep15 October31 October
Q3Oct – Dec15 January31 January
Q4Jan – Mar15 May31 May

In effect, the quarterly statement's due date has been pushed back from the 15th to the last day of the month following the quarter, and it now runs on the same calendar as the TDS statements (Forms 138/140/144). The monthly deposit deadline is untouched — only the return filing date moved.

If you're filing for FY 2026-27, use Form 143 and the new dates above. If you're filing or correcting a statement for FY 2025-26 or earlier, use Form 27EQ and the old 15th-of-the-month dates.

Due dates can be extended by CBDT circular in specific years — always cross-check the live due date on the income-tax e-filing portal before you file.

Late Filing Fee and Penalty

  • Late filing fee (section 427 of the Income-tax Act, 2025; the old section 234E): ₹200 for every day the statement remains unfiled after the due date. This is a mandatory fee, not a discretionary penalty, and applies to TCS statements exactly as it does to TDS statements. The total fee cannot exceed the TCS you were required to collect and deposit for that quarter.
  • Penalty for non-filing (section 461; the old section 271H): if the statement isn't filed within the prescribed time, or is filed with incorrect information, the assessing officer may levy ₹10,000 to ₹1,00,000, on top of the section 427/234E fee. The safe-harbour window that excuses this penalty if the statement is filed late but voluntarily was reduced from one year to one month, effective assessment year 2025-26 — for any return due from FY 2025-26 onward, filing more than one month after the due date (even without a formal notice) already exposes you to this penalty, not just filing after a year.
  • Interest on late deposit: depositing the collected tax itself late (separate from the return) attracts interest at 1.5% per month or part of a month, from collection to deposit.

Pay any outstanding fee before or at the time you file the late statement — the return typically won't go through without it.

How to File

  1. Deposit the TCS collected each month by the applicable due date, using the correct challan (Challan No. 281 for TCS, or the equivalent under the new payment-code structure from FY 2026-27).
  2. Prepare your quarterly statement (Form 27EQ or Form 143, as applicable) using the latest Return Preparation Utility (RPU) from Protean.
  3. Validate it using the File Validation Utility (FVU) to generate a .fvu file, correcting any PAN or challan mismatches it flags.
  4. Log in to the income-tax e-filing portal with your TAN and upload the validated statement (TRACES / e-Filing → Income Tax Forms).
  5. Download and retain the acknowledgement/provisional receipt to verify processing status later.
  6. Found an error after filing? File a correction statement through the same portal rather than a fresh original.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to file if I collected no TCS in a quarter?

If you have nothing to report and no outstanding obligation, you generally aren't required to file for that quarter. If you hold a TAN registered for TCS and have filed previously, confirm your specific requirement on the e-filing portal, since rules on "nil" statements can vary by circumstance.

Is the TCS payment due date the same as the TDS payment due date?

Yes — both follow the same pattern: 7th of the following month, with a 30 April deadline for March collections.

What happened to TCS on sale of goods over ₹50 lakh?

Section 206C(1H), which required certain large sellers to collect 0.1% TCS on receipts above ₹50 lakh, was removed with effect from 1 April 2025 and no longer applies from FY 2025-26 onward.

Which form should I use right now — 27EQ or 143?

For any quarter of FY 2025-26 or earlier, use Form 27EQ. For FY 2026-27 onward, use Form 143.

Sources

Verify the exact due date, rate, and threshold applicable to your transaction on the income-tax e-filing portal before filing, since these have changed more than once in recent years.

Never miss a compliance deadline