TDS Forms Overhauled from April 1, 2026: New Form Numbers & Simplified Filing Explained

With the rollout of the Income-tax Act, 2025 and Income-tax Rules, 2026, India’s TDS and TCS compliance framework has undergone a major structural overhaul from April 1, 2026, primarily through renumbering and simplification of forms along with enhanced digital features. Key TDS return forms have been renumbered—Form 24Q (salary) is now Form 138, Form 26Q (non-salary payments) becomes Form 140, Form 27Q (non-resident payments) is replaced by Form 144, and Form 27EQ (TCS) is now Form 143—aligning them with the new law’s structure. Additionally, TDS certificates have also been renumbered, with Form 16 becoming Form 130 and Form 16A replaced by Form 131, while employee declaration and perquisite reporting forms have also been updated. Beyond renumbering, the new forms introduce significant usability improvements, including removal of redundant fields, consolidation of tax components into single columns, auto-population of data from TRACES, real-time validation, and standardized reporting formats. These changes aim to reduce errors, improve compliance efficiency, and integrate seamlessly with digital tax systems, ultimately making TDS reporting more streamlined, transparent, and technology-driven under India’s revamped tax regime.