How to Pay TDS Online: Challan 281, 26QB & Due Dates (2026)

Paying TDS step by step on e-Pay Tax

e-Pay Tax is the one channel on the e-filing portal for every direct tax payment, including TDS/TCS deposits — it took over from the older OLTAS gateway run through TIN-NSDL (now Protean). The flow is the same whether you are paying regular monthly TDS or a property/rent challan; only the challan type and section codes you select differ.

• Log in to the e-filing portal (incometax.gov.in) and go to e-File > e-Pay Tax, or use the pre-login option to generate a challan without a full account login.
• Select the correct challan: ITNS 281N for Tax Year 2026-27 onward, ITNS 281 for periods up to FY 2025-26, or Form 141 for property/rent deductions.
• Choose the major head — 0020 (Corporation Tax) for company deductees or 0021 (Income Tax, Other than Companies) for non-company deductees — and the minor head: 200 for tax payable by the deductor, 400 for regular-assessment TDS/TCS, 800 for a PAN-based demand.
• Enter the nature-of-payment section code(s) and amounts, including any self-computed interest — the challan generator does not add interest automatically.
• Generate the Challan Reference Number (CRN). A CRN is valid for 15 days, except one generated for advance tax on or after 16 March, which is fixed to 31 March of that financial year.
• Pay via net banking, debit card, RTGS/NEFT, the Payment Gateway (net banking, debit/credit card or UPI) across 35+ authorised banks, or Pay at Bank Counter by cheque, DD or cash — the counter route is capped at ₹10,000 per challan.
• On completion, the portal issues a Challan Receipt carrying the Challan Identification Number (CIN) — keep this as proof of payment and the reference for claiming TDS credit.

ITNS 281 vs ITNS 281N, and the section renumbering behind it

ITNS 281N applies to TDS/TCS relating to Tax Year 2026-27 (payments/deductions from 1 April 2026) onward; ITNS 281 under the 1961 Act continues for anything relating to earlier tax years or arrears. The major and minor head structure carries over largely unchanged, but one practical difference matters for anyone paying TDS across several categories of deductee.

The Income-tax Act, 2025 also consolidates almost every TDS provision into new section numbers. Old salary TDS (section 192/192A) becomes Section 392. Nearly all other resident, non-resident and any-person TDS provisions — the old 194C (contractors), 194J (professional/technical fees), 194I (rent), 194H, 194A, 194D, 194DA, 194N, 194R, 194S and more — are consolidated into Section 393, referenced by table entries and numeric payment codes. TCS provisions move to Section 394. The exact numeric payment codes (reported at 1001-1067 in one secondary source, with contractor payments around 1023/1024, professional fees around 1027 and rent around 1009) have not been independently cross-checked against a CBDT notification or the portal's own code list, so treat the codes themselves — not the section consolidation — as provisional until you confirm them on the challan form itself.

TAN remains mandatory for quoting on regular business TDS challans and returns — salary, contractor, professional-fee and business-rent deductions under the new Section 393 table entries all still need it. The no-TAN exception is narrow and specific: property-purchase and individual/HUF rent TDS filed on Form 141.

Using an old section reference (e.g. 194C, 194J) on a challan or return for a payment falling due on or after 1 April 2026 triggers a system validation error and forces a correction statement — check which challan applies before you file.

Due dates: when TDS must actually reach the government

• Non-government deductors: by the 7th of the month following the month of deduction.
• TDS deducted in March: extended to 30 April.
• Government deductors paying without production of a challan: same day as deduction.
• Government deductors paying with a challan: the same 7th-of-next-month timeline as other deductors (7 April for March).
• Form 141 Schedule B (property, ex-194-IA) and Schedule A (rent, ex-194-IB): within 30 days from the end of the month in which tax is deducted, not the 7th-of-month rule above.

Depositing the challan is only the payment step. The quarterly TDS statement — old Form 24Q/26Q, renumbered Form 138/140 for Tax Year 2026-27 onward, still due 31 July, 31 October, 31 January and 31 May for Q1-Q4 respectively — is a separate filing obligation. Paying every challan on time does not by itself satisfy the statement deadline, and mismatches between challans paid and the statement filed are what typically trigger demand notices.

Form 141: TDS on buying property or paying rent (no TAN needed)

For a property purchase, TDS on transfer of immovable property — the old Section 194-IA — is now reported and paid via Form 141, Schedule B, under Section 393(1), for any purchase/credit event on or after 1 April 2026; earlier transactions still use Form 26QB. The rate and threshold are unchanged: 1% of the consideration or the stamp duty value, whichever is higher, where the property (other than agricultural land) is worth ₹50 lakh or more — and that ₹50 lakh threshold applies to the whole property value, not each buyer's individual share.

For rent, an individual or HUF not liable to tax audit deducts TDS under Form 141 Schedule A (the old Section 194-IB) wherever monthly rent to a resident landlord exceeds ₹50,000. The rate is 2%, cut from 5% by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024 with effect from 1 October 2024. This is typically a one-time annual exercise done in the last month of the tenancy or of the financial year, rather than a monthly deduction.

Both schedules share the same filing rule: the tax must reach the government within 30 days from the end of the month of deduction, and neither needs a TAN — the deductor (buyer or tenant) files using their own PAN, quoting the seller's or landlord's PAN. The resulting TDS certificate is now Form 132 (issued under Section 395(4), replacing the earlier Form 16B/16C), generated via TRACES within 15 days of the statement's due date. Verify that PAN before paying: where it is missing or invalid, a higher rate applies under Section 397(2) — the successor to the old Section 206AA/206AB non-PAN regime — in place of the standard rate above, unless the Assessing Officer has issued a certificate for a lower or nil rate.

Interest, late fees and penalties on TDS

Interest paid for late deduction or late deposit of TDS is not an allowable business expense — it is specifically disallowed while computing income. The interest provision, previously Section 201(1A), is now Section 398(3)(a) under the Income-tax Act, 2025; the late-fee provision, previously Section 234E, is now Section 427. A related penalty just got harder to avoid: Section 271H's ₹10,000-₹1,00,000 penalty for a late or incorrect statement used to come with a safe harbour — file the belated statement within one year of the due date, after paying the tax, interest and late fee, and the penalty was waived. The Finance Act, 2025, effective 1 April 2025, cut that cure window from one year to one month, so a statement filed, say, three months late — even with every rupee of tax, interest and fee paid — is now exposed to the penalty where it previously was not. Whether "Section 271H" itself carries a different number under the Income-tax Act, 2025's own numbering has not been confirmed from any source found; the rule and amount are confirmed, the label is used here for continuity and search-recognition.

Fixing a wrong challan

For challans from Assessment Year 2020-21 onward, correct Assessment Year, Major Head or Minor Head errors online: log in to the e-filing portal, go to Services > Challan Correction > + Create Challan Correction Request. Only one correction request is allowed per challan on the portal, and Minor Head and Assessment Year cannot both be corrected in the same request — a second correction, or a correction on an older challan, has to go to the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer instead.

A wrong TAN or PAN on an already-paid challan cannot be fixed through the self-service portal tool at all — it needs a written application with supporting documents submitted to the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer of the correct TAN/PAN, who forwards it for approval.

Primary sources

The dates and fees on this page are read off the statute and CBDT’s own notifications and the e-filing portal, not copied from other guides. You can check every one of them:

• e-Pay Tax facility (payment modes, CRN generation and validity) — Income Tax Department
• ITNS 281N FAQ (challan creation through PAN login) — Income Tax Department
• Form 141 — Challan-cum-statement under section 393(1) — Income Tax Department
• Form 141 FAQs — Income Tax Department
• Form 141 FAQs (TAN requirement) — Income Tax India
• Section 271H, Income-tax Act, 1961, and its cure-window amendment by the Finance Act, 2025 (effective 1 April 2025)