TDS

Tax Deducted at Source is the Indian government's pay-as-you-earn mechanism: the entity making a payment to you (employer, bank, tenant, company paying a contractor) deducts a prescribed percentage of the payment as tax and deposits it with the Central Board of Direct Taxes on your behalf. You then claim that amount as pre-paid tax when filing your ITR. TDS affects almost every earning Indian — it is the reason your salary credit is lower than your CTC.

Rates and thresholds vary by section: salary (Sec 192) at the employee's slab rate; bank FD interest (Sec 194A) at 10% if interest crosses ₹40,000/year (₹50,000 for seniors); rent over ₹50,000/month by an individual tenant (Sec 194-IB) at 5%; dividends over ₹10,000 (post-Budget 2025) at 10%; contractor payments (Sec 194C) at 1% for individuals/HUFs and 2% for others. Example: ₹6 lakh salary with employer-computed tax of ₹18,000 → TDS deducted ₹1,500/month.

All TDS against your PAN shows up in Form 26AS and the Annual Information Statement (AIS) on the income-tax portal. Mismatches between what the deductor claims and what you see must be reconciled before filing — unresolved gaps lead to refund delays or notices.

Our TDS calculator estimates TDS on salary, FD interest, rent, and contract payments so you can plan cashflow and avoid surprises at year-end.