TDS late filing fee

Two hundred a day, until it stops

The fee is ₹200 for every day the statement is late — and it cannot exceed the tax deductible in that statement. On a quarter with ₹3,000 of TDS the cap arrives on the fifteenth day, and the two hundredth day costs exactly what the fifteenth did.

That is worth knowing before you assume the worst. It is also the reason this page shows the computed figure and the cap together: with one number on screen there is no way to see that the delay has stopped mattering.

The penalty that is not added here

Section 271H allows a separate penalty of ₹10,000 to ₹1,00,000. It is discretionary, and it is not levied where the statement goes in within a year of the due date with the tax, the fee and the interest all paid.

• This calculator flags the exposure once a statement passes a year late, and adds nothing to the total. A discretionary penalty shown as a certainty is a worse error than one left out.
• The fee under 234E is automatic and cannot be waived on reasonable cause, unlike the penalty.
• Interest on the tax itself runs separately — work that out here.

A quarter is not a calendar quarter

Q3 of a financial year is October to December and its statement is due on 31 January — in the next calendar year. Q4 is January to March and is due on 31 May, later than the others, because the tax for March is itself only deposited by 30 April. Picking the financial year and the quarter here avoids having to remember which of the four cross the year end.