Most TRACES and TDS-filing failures come down to four causes: registering as the wrong user type or with a Token/PRN TRACES can't match against a filed statement, looking for Form 26AS in a place it no longer lives, a missing or wrong Java/emSigner setup that blocks Form 16 downloads and DSC signing, and a challan or PAN problem that TRACES itself has no button to fix — it needs the jurisdictional Assessing Officer instead. Knowing which of the four applies decides whether the fix takes ten minutes or needs a written application.
The TRACES portal not working today, or a "TDS return rejected at e-filing" message, is almost never one single bug — it is usually one of these four causes wearing a generic error message. This guide gives the exact string TRACES shows for each, the specific step-path to fix it, the correction windows that actually apply, and where the escalation route runs to the AO rather than back through TRACES. CapEasy handles TDS payments, returns and TRACES corrections when a filing is stuck and the deadline is close.
Since 1 April 2026 — TRACES 2.0: The Income Tax Department launched a revamped TRACES 2.0 portal at traces.tdscpc.gov.in, built around Income-tax Act 2025 compliance workflows; the old tdscpc.gov.in domain now redirects there automatically. TRACES 2.0 runs a dual-interface design — a new homepage for Act-2025 workflows, with a gateway button into the legacy interface for everything still governed by the 1961 Act — so the registration, Form 16 and OLTAS steps below (sourced from the legacy TRACES FAQ set) may still be reached through that gateway rather than the new homepage directly. Existing users do not need to re-register or reset their password; old credentials continue to work.
Why TRACES registration, Form 16 download and login fail
- "Invalid Details" / "TAN is not available in the TAN Master" at Deductor registration — shown when no TDS statement has been filed for the TAN in the last 8 quarters, only Nil statements were filed, the most recent statement is still processing at TRACES, or the TAN was typed incorrectly.
- Registering the wrong user type — TRACES has three separate registration flows: Deductor (TAN-based, needs the Token/PRN of an already-filed statement), Taxpayer (PAN-based), and PAO (AIN-based, needs the seven-digit Accounts Office Identification Number plus the AIN registration number or a Form 24G receipt number). Using the wrong flow, or pasting the Token/PRN instead of typing it, is a common cause of a registration that never completes.
- "Unable to access the Jar File" or "0 PDF files generated successfully" from the Form 16/16A PDF Converter Utility — the Java runtime (JRE) needed to run the utility is missing, too old, or the wrong bit-version for the OS.
- "Error in establishing connection with TRACES Web-Socket emsigner" — the DSC signing bridge is not installed, not running, is an old version, or a browser proxy is interfering with the local connection it needs to reach the token.
How to fix each cause
- Wrong TAN Master match at registration: confirm the TAN is typed correctly (never pasted), file — or wait for TRACES to finish processing — a regular, non-Nil TDS statement for a recent quarter, then retry registration using the Token/PRN from that processed statement.
- Wrong registration flow: check which of the three TRACES account types applies — Deductor needs a Token/PRN from a filed statement plus challan and up to three deductee PAN-amount pairs for KYC; Taxpayer registers on PAN; PAO needs the AIN. Registering as the wrong type, or with details that don't match the statement on file, produces the same generic "Invalid Details" error regardless of which field is actually wrong.
- Forgotten password: use "Forgot Password" and answer via whichever of the three TRACES options you set up — the pre-set security question, matching details from an already-issued Form 26AS/Form 16/16A, or a self-assessment/advance-tax challan payment. Enter PAN and amount fields exactly as used at registration, with amounts to two decimal places, or the reset is rejected.
- Form 16/16A won't convert to PDF: install JRE 1.7 or JRE 8u121+ matching your OS's bit-version (32-bit vs 64-bit) from java.com, then rerun the utility's Run.bat on a freshly downloaded copy of the converter — an outdated converter version reading a newer ZIP format throws "The file is tampered" even with the correct Java installed.
- emSigner/DSC won't connect: uninstall the old Web-Socket emSigner and every JRE except one, install JRE 8 (32-bit only), install the latest Web-Socket emSigner V2.0 from TRACES, disable any active browser proxy, clear the browser cache, plug in the DSC token before launching, run emSigner as Administrator, then retry registering the DSC.
- Form 16/16A request won't submit: the underlying TDS statement must be in "Statement Processed with Default" or "Statement Processed without Default" status first — a request against an unprocessed statement cannot be raised at all. A quarter with zero deductions only produces a Form 16/16A if flag A, B, T or Y was raised at the time of filing.
- Employee can't get their Form 16: there is no employee/taxpayer login path to download it — only the registered deductor can pull Form 16/16A from TRACES, so the employee has to request it from their employer, not from TRACES directly.
Where Form 26AS actually lives now, and its download password
Form 26AS is no longer a page reached through a separate direct TRACES taxpayer login for most users. The current route is: log in to the e-filing portal (incometax.gov.in) with PAN, go to e-File > Income Tax Returns > View Form 26AS, tick the checkbox, and TRACES opens inside that same session showing "View Tax Credit (Form 26AS)". Since AY 2023-24, that Form 26AS shows only TDS/TCS and tax-payment entries against the PAN — broader financial data (interest, dividends, securities, property, high-value transactions) sits in the separate Annual Information Statement (AIS) on the same e-filing portal, not on 26AS.
The password to open a downloaded Form 26AS PDF is the taxpayer's date of birth in DDMMYYYY format — for example, 1 July 1974 becomes 01071974 — not the PAN. A "due to large size" message means the statement has too many entries to render on screen; the fix is to submit a download request from within TRACES, after which it is generated separately and delivered in text format rather than shown instantly.
TDS challan correction: what TRACES can fix online, and what needs the AO
| Correction needed | Route and window | Miss it / not eligible and |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment Year, Major Head, Minor Head or Section code on an e-paid challan (paid on or after 1 Sept 2011), except Section 195 | OLTAS Challan Correction, deductor login on TRACES — self-service, within 3 months of the deposit date | The correction request goes to the jurisdictional Assessing Officer instead, with supporting documents |
| Total amount, PAN/TAN or AY on a physical/over-the-counter challan | Bank-level correction — reported as a 7-day window from deposit (VERIFY: not confirmed against a primary CBDT/RBI circular; treat as likely but re-check current terms with the bank) | The request moves to the Assessing Officer route |
| PAN or TAN on any challan | Never correctable through TRACES' online OLTAS tool — always needs a written application, with documents, to the jurisdictional AO of the correct TAN/PAN, who must also get approval from the AO where the challan credit currently sits | No online workaround exists; this route has no self-service shortcut |
| Any online OLTAS correction request, once submitted | Typically processed within 24-48 hours | A newly paid challan's status may not appear in OLTAS for roughly a week after deposit — a "no record" or "awaiting confirmation from bank" result in the first few days is expected, not necessarily an error |
OLTAS challan status can be checked by TAN-based view (TAN plus a challan date range capped at 24 months, TDS/TCS challans only) or CIN-based view (BSR code, tender date, challan serial number and amount, any tax payment type).
Looks like a TRACES bug — but is actually this
- Form 26AS "not working" or "unable to download" — usually not a TRACES outage. It's either the old direct-TRACES-login habit (26AS now routes through the e-filing portal first) or the large-file text-format flow that requires a download request instead of an instant on-screen view.
- An employee stuck trying to download their own Form 16 from TRACES — not a bug or access error. TRACES has no facility for a deductee to download Form 16 at all; only the registered deductor can, so the request has to go to the employer.
- "TDS return rejected at e-filing / TIN-FC" — rarely a portal glitch. It almost always traces back to an FVU validation failure that was ignored, an invalid PAN for one or more deductees, or a challan-CSI mismatch (BSR code, serial number, tender date or amount not matching a challan in the CSI file) — the fix is re-running the latest FVU against a freshly downloaded CSI file, not resubmitting the same file again.
- "Insert smart card" or a DSC PIN error during registration — often not a faulty token. It's frequently multiple JRE installations or an active browser proxy conflicting with emSigner; reconnecting the token rarely helps until the JRE/proxy setup is fixed first.
- Higher TDS suddenly deducted under Section 206AA — not a TRACES miscalculation. It means the deductee's PAN is "inoperative" because it wasn't linked to Aadhaar by the applicable deadline; TRACES then treats the deduction exactly as if no PAN had been furnished at all, forcing the higher rate.
Short deduction, late payment and PAN defaults in the Justification Report
The TRACES Justification Report flags a gap between the tax that should have been deducted or deposited and what the statement actually reports — usually a wrong rate applied, a missed deductee, or a late bank deposit. Two separate charges can follow: interest under Section 201(1A) — 1% per month (or part of a month) from the date tax was deductible to the date actually deducted, plus a further 1.5% per month from deduction to actual deposit — and, on top of that, the Section 234E late-filing fee of ₹200 per day of delay in filing the statement, capped at the total TDS/TCS reportable for that period. Section 271H can separately add a ₹10,000-₹1,00,000 penalty for non-filing or incorrect filing, though it is commonly not levied if tax, fee and interest are paid and the statement is filed within one year of the due date.
Under Section 206AA, if a deductee doesn't furnish a valid PAN, TDS must be deducted at the higher of the 206AA rate (generally 20%, or 5% for certain payments) or the normal rate — whichever is higher. A PAN not linked to Aadhaar by the prescribed deadline becomes "inoperative" under Rule 114AAA, and for TDS/TCS purposes an inoperative PAN is treated exactly as if no PAN was furnished, triggering this same higher-rate default. CBDT Circular No. 9/2025 (21 July 2025) gave relief from the resulting demand for amounts paid or credited between 1 April 2024 and 31 July 2025, provided the PAN became operative by 30 September 2025 — check the payment period against the applicable circular before assuming any current demand is final, since the relief has been extended in stages (an earlier Circular 6/2024 covered transactions up to 31 March 2024, cured by 31 May 2024).
From 1 April 2026, the Income-tax Act 2025 merges Sections 206AA and 206CC into a single consolidated Section 397(2) for higher TDS/TCS on no-PAN or inoperative-PAN cases — pre-2026 material citing "206AA" is describing a section number that has since been renumbered for defaults arising after that date.
Escalating when TRACES itself is the problem
- TRACES helpline for Form 16, Form 26AS and TDS/TCS statement issues: reported as 1800 103 0344 (toll-free) / 0120-4814600, Monday-Saturday 10 AM-6 PM — this number is repeated across secondary directories but was not independently confirmed against the live TRACES portal footer in this research; verify it on traces.tdscpc.gov.in before relying on it.
- TRACES email support: contactus@tdscpc.gov.in.
- For a challan correction that needs a PAN/TAN change, or falls outside the online OLTAS window: a written application with supporting documents to the jurisdictional Assessing Officer of the correct TAN/PAN — the AO raises an electronic ticket that also needs approval from the AO where the challan credit currently sits.
- Aayakar Sampark Kendra, for general income-tax queries not specific to TRACES: 1800 180 1961 (toll-free, all days except Sunday, 8 AM-10 PM).
- State-wise Income Tax Department regional grievance cell contacts are listed on the department's regional-grievances page for anything a general helpline can't resolve.
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:
Verified against the Income-tax Act, 1961, the rules and CBDT notifications cited above as of September 2026. Your exact position depends on your entity and any notifications or circulars issued since — we confirm it for you, and always recommend checking the official Income Tax e-filing portal. CapEasy is a private consultancy and is not affiliated with any government authority. This page is a guide, not legal advice.