New TDS and TCS Forms 138, 140 and 143 Are Due 31 July 2026: What Changed Under the Income-tax Act 2025

Form 138 replaces 24Q, Form 140 replaces 26Q and Form 143 replaces 27EQ from Q1 of Tax Year 2026-27. What the Income-tax Act 2025 changed, when it applies to a payment, why section numbers moved, and the four checks to run before 31 July 2026.

26 July 2026 8 min read

Key Takeaways

Form 138 replaces Form 24Q for salary TDS, Form 140 replaces Form 26Q for non-salary TDS, and Form 143 replaces Form 27EQ for TCS.
Q1 of Tax Year 2026-27 is due 31 July 2026 and is the first quarter filed on the new numbering.
The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies wherever the earlier of credit or payment falls on or after 1 April 2026.
The Act compresses 819 sections across 23 chapters into 536, so section references have moved even where the underlying rule has not changed.

By Mani MuruganFinance & GST Lead · 10+ yrs experience

The quarterly TDS return you file on 31 July 2026 will not be Form 24Q. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, salary TDS moves to Form 138, non-salary TDS to Form 140, and TCS to Form 143 — and the Q1 filing for Tax Year 2026-27 is the first one on the new numbering (CA Guruji Tax, 2026).

Most of what you actually report is the same. What changes is the form your software generates, the section numbers you quote on every challan and certificate, and the very real chance that a deductor filing from memory picks a form that no longer exists.

Which forms changed, and what do they replace?

Three quarterly statements were renumbered. Form 138 takes over salary TDS from Form 24Q, Form 140 takes over non-salary TDS from Form 26Q, and Form 143 takes over collection at source from Form 27EQ, with all three due by 31 July 2026 for the June quarter (CA Guruji Tax, 2026).

The underlying data set is broadly intact: deductee details, PAN, section, amount paid, tax deducted, challan mapping. If your payroll or accounting system files correctly today, the migration is largely a template update on the vendor's side rather than a new data collection exercise on yours.

Source: CA Guruji Tax on Income-tax Act 2025 form renumbering, 2026.

When does the Income-tax Act, 2025 actually apply to a payment?

The trigger is the earlier of credit or payment. Where that event falls on or after 1 April 2026, the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 2025 apply (PwC Tax Summaries, 2026). The Act replaced the 1961 statute with effect from 1 April 2026 and applies from financial year 2026-27 onward.

That single rule settles most edge cases. An invoice raised in March 2026 but credited to the vendor's account in April falls under the new Act. A payment made in March against a March credit does not. Where your books show both events, the earlier one governs.

Why do the section numbers look unfamiliar?

The 2025 Act condenses 819 sections across 23 chapters into 536 sections (Income Tax Department, 2026). Consolidation on that scale means a rule can survive intact while its address changes — the familiar 194C or 194J reference you have typed for years may now sit under a different number.

This is the part that generates avoidable notices. A deduction made at the correct rate but tagged to a superseded section still reconciles badly at the deductee's end, and the mismatch surfaces in their AIS rather than yours. Before the July filing, get your master of payment-type-to-section mappings re-checked once against the new Act instead of trusting last quarter's file.

What happens if you file late or file on the wrong form?

Late filing of a quarterly statement attracts a fee of ₹200 per day under the late-fee provision, capped at the amount of tax deducted, plus a separate penalty exposure for statements that stay unfiled beyond a year. The fee runs per statement, so a deductor missing all three forms accrues three parallel meters.

Filing on a withdrawn form is a different problem. It does not usually generate a penalty — it generates a rejection, and the rejection does not stop the clock. The deductee, meanwhile, sees nothing in their Form 26AS or AIS and starts asking why their credit is missing right as they prepare their own return.

What should a deductor do before 31 July 2026?

Four checks, in order. Confirm your filing utility or payroll vendor has shipped the Form 138/140/143 schemas. Re-map every recurring payment type to its section under the 2025 Act. Reconcile challans paid since 1 April 2026 against the deductions they are meant to cover. Then validate the return through the department's utility before the last week of July, when the portal carries the heaviest load of the year.

One point of sequencing worth noting: 31 July 2026 is also the ITR deadline for salaried filers, though non-audit business filers now have until 31 August under the new staggered ITR calendar. If you are both a deductor and a business filer, the TDS statement is the one that has to move first.

Our TDS return filing service handles the quarterly statements on the current forms, including section re-mapping and challan reconciliation, and our monthly bookkeeping keeps the deduction ledger tagged through the quarter so the return is assembled rather than rebuilt.

What to verify before acting on New TDS and TCS Forms 138, 140 and 143 Are Due 31 July 2026

Rules and platform behaviour change after an article is published. Confirm thresholds, registration status, return forms, document rules, and portal notices against the GST Portal before you act on anything below, because the right answer depends on your entity, state, turnover, and current setup.

Checkpoint	Why it matters	Where to confirm
Current rule or platform status	Limits, forms, policies, and APIs can change after a blog update.	GST Portal
Your exact business case	A local shop, freelancer, D2C store, agency, and SaaS team rarely need the same next step.	Documents, invoices, campaign data, analytics setup, or workflow logs
Implementation evidence	The safest business decision is backed by proof, not memory or screenshots from an old setup.	Portal acknowledgement, dashboard export, invoice sample, test lead, or error log

Going deeper: TDS Return Filing, Bookkeeping Services, and Business ITR Filing.

Frequently asked questions

Which TDS form replaces Form 24Q?

Form 138 replaces Form 24Q for quarterly salary TDS statements under the Income-tax Act, 2025. Alongside it, Form 140 replaces Form 26Q for non-salary TDS and Form 143 replaces Form 27EQ for tax collected at source. The first filing on the new forms is the Q1 statement for Tax Year 2026-27, due 31 July 2026.

When does the Income-tax Act 2025 apply to a TDS payment?

The trigger is the earlier of credit or payment. Where that event falls on or after 1 April 2026, the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 2025 apply. An invoice raised in March 2026 but credited to the vendor account in April falls under the new Act. Where your books record both a credit and a payment, the earlier event governs which statute applies.

What is the penalty for filing a TDS return late?

Late filing of a quarterly TDS statement attracts a fee of ₹200 per day, capped at the amount of tax deducted, with a separate penalty exposure for statements left unfiled beyond a year. The fee runs per statement, so a deductor missing Forms 138, 140 and 143 accrues three parallel meters rather than one.

Why do section numbers look different under the new Act?

The Income-tax Act, 2025 consolidates 819 sections across 23 chapters into 536 sections. A rule can survive intact while its section number changes, so familiar references such as those used for contractor or professional payments may now sit elsewhere. Deducting at the correct rate but quoting a superseded section causes reconciliation mismatches in the deductee AIS.