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Form 131 replaces Form 16A as the quarterly TDS certificate from April 1, 2026. It includes payment codes and requires updated issuance and deductee reconciliation workflows, with cross-validation against Form 168.
Deductor files the quarterly TDS return with deductee PAN, payment code, and amount; generates Form 131 from the e-filing portal; and issues it within 15 days of the quarterly return due date. Deductee matches Form 131 line items against the TDS receivable ledger on PAN, Tax Year, payment code, and amount, then cross-validates against Form 168.
Issuance timeline 15 days from the quarterly return due date. Quarterly reconciliation cycle aligned to return filing. Correction path via deductor re-filing and TRACES statement.
Reconciled quarterly certificate register, Form 131 to Form 168 cross-validation report, and mismatch queue for correction requests.
Most finance teams know Form 16A as the quarterly TDS certificate their deductors issue — the document that confirms how much TDS was deducted and deposited against their PAN for a given quarter. From April 1, 2026, that certificate is being replaced. Form 131 is the new quarterly deductor certificate under the Income Tax Act 2025, and it introduces changes that reshape how TDS receivable reconciliation is performed in Indian enterprises.
What Form 131 Is
Form 131 is the quarterly TDS certificate issued by every deductor for non-salary TDS deductions made under Chapter XX of the Income Tax Act 2025. It replaces Form 16A with effect from April 1, 2026 — the date the new act takes effect — and applies to Tax Year 2025-26 onwards. The deductor generates Form 131 from the Income Tax e-filing portal after the quarterly TDS return is processed, and must issue it to the deductee within 15 days of the return due date.
The certificate confirms four facts to the deductee: that a payment was made, that TDS was deducted at the correct rate, that the amount was deposited via a valid challan, and that it has been reported in the quarterly return against the correct PAN and payment code.
Changes Introduced by Form 131
New data fields
Form 131 adds fields that did not appear in Form 16A. The most important is the payment code — a numeric identifier (1001 to 1092) that specifies the nature of the payment under the new act. The certificate also carries a Form 168 reference line, pointing the deductee directly to where the credit will appear in the government statement. Invoice or payment reference fields are supported for sections that require transaction-level traceability.
Tax Year in place of Assessment Year
Form 131 labels its coverage period as Tax Year 2025-26, 2026-27, and so on. The older Assessment Year terminology is not used in the new certificate. Reconciliation systems that map Form 16A data by Assessment Year need an AY-to-TY mapping rule before they can ingest Form 131 records.
Quarterly issuance cadence
The issuance cadence carries over from Form 16A. For non-salary TDS, certificates must be issued within 15 days of the quarterly return due date. For salary TDS, the annual Form 130 (replacing Form 16) is issued by June 15 of the following Tax Year.
Form 131 Issuance Calendar
| Quarter | Period | Return due | Form 131 issuance due |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | April 1 to June 30 | July 31 | August 15 |
| Q2 | July 1 to September 30 | October 31 | November 15 |
| Q3 | October 1 to December 31 | January 31 | February 15 |
| Q4 | January 1 to March 31 | May 31 | June 15 |
India-Specific Reconciliation Considerations
For Indian enterprises, the reconciliation change is the dual-certificate reality during the first year of the new act. A deductor may issue a Form 16A certificate for Q4 of FY 2025-26 (based on legacy section codes) and a Form 131 certificate for Q1 of Tax Year 2025-26 (based on payment codes) within weeks of each other. The receivable ledger must accept both formats, map them to a common internal taxonomy, and feed them into the same variance report that is built against Form 168.
Finance teams managing more than 50 active deductors will benefit from TDS reconciliation software that parses both certificate schemas and produces a unified variance view. A broader reconciliation software India platform keeps Form 131 ingestion aligned with GSTR-2B, bank statement, and invoice matching flows inside one system. Official Form 131 schema files and deductor guidance are published on the Income Tax India e-filing portal.
The FAQ section below covers the issuance deadlines, penalty exposure, and audit usage of Form 131 in greater detail.