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A business receives a payment net of TDS and checks Form 26AS a few days later, finds nothing, and assumes the customer has not paid the tax.
TDS reaches the deductee's credit statement only after deduction, deposit by the 7th of the next month, the quarterly return by its due date (31 July, 31 October, 31 January, 31 May) and processing of that return.
Keep a TDS receivable list with the deduction date, quarter, deductor TAN and the expected visibility month calculated as the return due date plus about four weeks.
The team chases only entries that are overdue against the expected visibility month, instead of chasing every customer within days of payment.
Short answer: TDS shows in Form 26AS only after your customer (the deductor) has deposited the tax and filed its quarterly TDS return, and the department has processed that return. Deposit is due by the 7th of the following month, but the return is due only after the quarter ends, so the realistic wait is between one and four months. A credit for January to March often appears only in June.
This is the most common reason a new accountant thinks TDS is “missing” when nothing has gone wrong.
Why does TDS take so long to reach my Form 26AS?
TDS moves through four steps before you can see it:
- Deduction. The customer pays you the invoice value minus TDS, for example 10% under Section 194J for professional fees, or 2% under Section 194C for a contractor that is a company.
- Deposit. The customer pays the tax to the government through a challan by the 7th of the next month. For tax deducted in March, the deposit date is 30 April.
- Quarterly return. The customer files Form 26Q, listing every deductee’s PAN and amount. This is the step that links the money to your PAN.
- Processing. The department matches the return with the challan. Only then does the entry show in Form 26AS (or Form 168 from tax year 2026-27).
Steps 1 and 2 happen within weeks. Step 3 is the long wait.
When should I expect each quarter’s TDS to show?
| Quarter | Months covered | Return due date | Earliest realistic month to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | April to June | 31 July | August |
| Q2 | July to September | 31 October | November |
| Q3 | October to December | 31 January | February |
| Q4 | January to March | 31 May | June |
If the customer files early, the entry can show earlier. Many file close to the due date, so plan around the last column.
Why does my March TDS show up only in June?
March sits in Q4, the January to March quarter. The Q4 return is due on 31 May, two months after the quarter ends rather than the usual one month, partly because the March deposit date is also later (30 April). Add a few weeks for processing and June is normal. This is why the March year-end close treats Q4 TDS receivable as “expected” rather than “confirmed” until the statement updates.
Worked example: ₹25,000 deducted on 20 February
Your customer pays a ₹2,50,000 professional fee invoice (value before GST) on 20 February and deducts 10% TDS, which is ₹25,000. You receive ₹2,25,000 plus the GST in the bank.
- Deposit due: by 7 March.
- Return: February is in Q4, so the return is due by 31 May.
- When to check: first half of June. If you check on 15 March, an empty statement is expected.
- When to worry: if the entry is still missing in early July, about a month after the due date.
The ₹25,000 sits in your books as TDS receivable from 20 February. It is not a loss and not a bad debt while you wait.
When is waiting no longer reasonable?
Use a simple rule: due date plus about four weeks. After that, send the customer a short written request with:
- your PAN and the invoice number,
- the payment date and TDS amount,
- a request for the challan details (BSR code, deposit date, challan serial number) and the return acknowledgement number.
The deductor also has reasons to fix things quickly. A late TDS return attracts a fee of ₹200 per day under Section 234E of the 1961 Act, capped at the TDS amount, and tax deducted but deposited late attracts interest of 1.5% per month under Section 201(1A). Mention the dates politely; most delays are clerical. Keep your quarter-by-quarter dates in the TDS compliance calendar.
What to read next
- If the entry is there but marked oddly, read what Final, Unmatched and Provisional mean next to a TDS entry.
- If the entry is simply missing after the window, run the first checks in why the TDS my customer deducted is not showing in Form 26AS.
- For the full year-end routine, see the TDS year-end March close checklist.
Tracking expected-versus-visible credits across dozens of customers is where a spreadsheet starts to slip. TransactIG reconciles your TDS receivable against the credit statement and puts the overdue entries in an exception queue; see TDS reconciliation software.
Content authored by practitioners with experience at Amazon India, Intuit QuickBooks, and the Tata Group. Meet the team →