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The TDS tab covers a client’s non-salary deductions: Form 26Q for residents and 27Q for non-residents (Form No. 140 / 144 from tax year 2026-27). Salary TDS is handled with payroll. Owners can work on every client; Managers and Preparers only on clients assigned to them. Connector admins and Client portal users do not see the tab. Open Clients, select the client, then Tax → TDS. Each view has a View filter in its toolbar; most views also have a Quarter filter. Pragma prepares the working paper and the FVU input file. It does not run the FVU, pay a challan or file the return; you do that and then record the result here.

Before you start

  • TAN. Tax is deducted, deposited and returned under the deductor’s TAN. If the client has no TAN, the tab says so and deductions and challans cannot be recorded until it is added with Edit profile (see Manage clients). You can set up deductees in the meantime.
  • Archived clients. An archived client’s TDS records are read-only. Restore the client to change them.
  • Dates. Pragma’s TDS rates start on 1 April 2024. Payments before that are not computed here.

Add deductees

Deductees are the parties the client deducts tax from: contractors, professionals, landlords, non-residents. Recording a purchase for TDS also saves its supplier here.
1

Open the deductee form

Set View to Deductees and select Add deductee, or click a row to edit it. You can search by name, PAN or GSTIN.
2

Fill in the details

Complete the fields below. If the GSTIN contains a PAN and the PAN box is empty, the form offers it. Select Use it to copy it in; the form never fills it in for you.
3

Save

Select Add deductee (or Save deductee when editing). Remove deletes a deductee, but only one with no entries: the entries are the record of what was deducted.

Record deductions

1

Start from a purchase or from scratch

To work from the client’s approved bills, set View to Purchases to check. It lists purchases approved in review (status Approved) and dated in the quarter that have not yet been recorded for TDS or set aside. Click a row or choose Record TDS… from its actions menu. Purchases without an invoice date are shown as a count of undated and cannot be placed in a quarter until the date is added in review.To record a payment with no purchase behind it, open Deductions and select Record payment.
2

Fill in the entry

Choose the Deductee (or New deductee to add one without leaving the form), then Entry (Payment or credit or Credit note) and Section. Enter the dates and amount from the table below. A purchase prefills the form; GST shown separately on the bill is left out of the amount taxed.
3

Check the computation

The Computed box recalculates as you type and shows the Basis, Rate, TDS, the amount Taxed on and the Year’s total to this deductee. Aggregate thresholds are counted across the deductee’s whole financial year. When a bill crosses one, tax on earlier bills below it is added (Includes earlier bills). If you entered a Date of deduction, it also shows Deposit due. If the box shows a refusal, correct the date, section or rate. Record stays unavailable until the entry can be computed.
4

Save

Select Record (or Save when editing). The entry appears in Deductions with its Flags. Use Show → Needs attention to find entries that need action, such as Deduction date missing, Not under a challan, No PAN: higher rate, Deposited late or Recompute.
If a purchase carries no TDS, choose Set aside: no TDS… from its actions menu and enter Why no TDS (at least 3 characters), for example goods below the 194Q limit, a reimbursement or an exempt payee. It then appears under Show → Set aside, and you can return it to the list with Bring back.
When an entry is flagged Recompute, open it and select Apply to save the new figure. Remove deletes an entry; later entries of the same deductee and section are flagged if the year’s computation changes for them. You cannot edit, recompute or remove an entry that is under a challan. Take it off the challan first.

Record challans and place deductions under them

1

Record the challan

Set View to Challans and select Record challan. Enter the details from the challan counterfoil (see the table below) and select Record challan. Click a row to correct it (Save challan) or Remove it.
2

Place deductions under it

In Deductions, tick the entries the challan paid for and select Place under challan. Choose the Challan and select Place under challan. The panel shows how much tax the selected entries still need and how much of each challan is unallocated. To undo, select the entries and choose Take off challan.
A challan can carry no more tax than it deposited. Each entry you place under it must be from the challan’s own quarter and return (26Q or 27Q), must have a Date of deduction, and must not be a credit note.

Clear the return’s checks and export it

1

Open the working paper

Set View to Return working paper, choose the Quarter and the Return. The tiles show the due date (or the filed date), Tax deducted, Interest due against interest paid, and the Late-filing fee.
2

Clear the checks

In Sheet → Checks, each row is labelled Fix before filing, Check or For the file, with the number of entries it concerns. Fix every Fix before filing row where the data lives: in the deduction, the deductee, the challan, or the client’s profile. Deductee annexure and Challan annexure show the rows as they go into the return.
3

Complete the deductor details

Select Deductor details. The deductor’s name, PAN, TAN, registered address, email and phone come from the client’s profile, and anything missing is marked Missing. Correct those on the client’s profile. Here, choose the Deductor type (defaulted from the entity type where possible) and Branch / division (blank reports NA). Then enter the person responsible for deduction: Name, Designation, PAN, Email and Mobile (a 10-digit Indian mobile number). Tick the address checkbox if their address differs from the client’s, and enter it (PIN code six digits, State from the list). Select Save details.
4

Create the FVU input file

Choose Export → FVU input file (.txt). For Form 26Q or 27Q, if the deductor’s or the responsible person’s address changed since the last return, tick the matching box. Then select Create file. If something is missing, the panel lists what stops the file under The file cannot be created yet:, with a Deductor details shortcut. Once the file downloads, keep its name unchanged: FVU accepts file names of up to 12 characters. Validate it in Protean’s FVU with the challan file (.csi) downloaded for the TAN, then file the .fvu file it produces.
Export also offers Working paper (.xlsx) and each annexure as CSV. Excel drops the leading zeros of BSR codes and challan serials when it opens a CSV, so use the .xlsx file in Excel.

Record the filing

After filing, select Mark filed in the working-paper toolbar for that return. Enter Filed on (the date on the provisional receipt; it must be after the quarter ends and not in the future) and, optionally, the 15-digit Token number, which the next quarter’s statement quotes. Select Save filing. The button then shows the filed date. 26Q and 27Q are marked separately, and each return’s late-filing fee stops on its own filing date. To undo a filing recorded by mistake, open it and select Not filed, then Mark not filed. The late-filing fee then runs to today again, unless the quarter is marked filed on the compliance calendar.

If something is refused

“This client has no TAN recorded. Tax is deducted and deposited under the deductor’s TAN; add it on the client’s profile first.” Add the TAN on the client’s profile.“This client is archived, so its TDS records are read-only. Restore the client to change them.”
“That PAN is already recorded for …. Use that deductee, or correct the PAN.”“This purchase already has a TDS entry. Open that entry to change it.” This also appears if you try to set aside a purchase that has an entry.“This deductee already has an entry for that bill number under that section. Open it instead of recording it twice.”“A challan with this BSR code, serial number and date is already recorded for this client.”
“Pragma’s TDS rates start on 1 April 2024. A payment before that is not computed here; record it in the earlier year’s working papers.”“That section was not in force on the date of payment or credit (194T, for one, starts on 1 April 2025). Check the date or the section.”“That section is for the other kind of deductee: section 195 is for non-residents only, and every other section here for residents. Check the deductee’s residency.”“Enter the rate for this payment to a non-resident: the rate in force under the Act, or the tax treaty’s.”
“Only a purchase approved for Tally can be recorded for TDS. Finish its review first, or record the payment by hand.”“That item is not a purchase bill. TDS is recorded against what the client pays.”
“This deduction is under a challan, so what it deducted is what the return reports as deposited. Take it off the challan before changing or removing it.”
“The challan deposited ₹… of tax, but these deductions need ₹…. Use another challan for the rest, or correct the challan’s amounts.” This also appears if you lower a challan’s tax below what is already under it.“One of these deductions is already under another challan. Take it off that challan first.”“A credit note is not a return row and deposits nothing, so it cannot go under a challan.”“Record the date the tax was deducted before placing the entry under a challan: the return reports both dates.”“A challan reports the deductions of its own quarter’s return. Pick deductions of the same quarter, or correct the challan’s quarter.”“Resident deductions go in 26Q and non-resident ones in 27Q, each with its own challans. Pick a challan of the same return.”“This is a salary challan: it deposits payroll TDS for the 24Q and is linked to payroll months, not to deductions. Pick a 26Q or 27Q challan.”
“Deductions are placed under this challan. Take them off it before removing it or moving it to another quarter or return.”“Payroll months are linked to this salary challan (…). Unlink them in the payroll’s salary TDS return before removing the challan or moving it to another quarter.”“This deductee has entries, which are the record of what was deducted. Remove the entries first, or keep the deductee.”
“Someone else changed this item while you were editing it (you had version …, it is now …). Reload before saving again.”
Other field errors name the field and what it expects, for example a 7-digit BSR code, a 15-digit token number, or a filing date after the quarter ends. Correct the field and save again.

Still stuck?

Open a case from Help & support in Pragma, or book a walkthrough and the team will show you around on a call. Can’t sign in? Contact support.