TAN Registration

A TAN (Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number) is a ten-character number that anyone who deducts or collects tax at source must obtain and quote on TDS challans, returns and certificates. It's mandatory before you start deducting TDS — and quoting it is a legal requirement.

If your business pays salaries, rent above a threshold, or contractors and professionals on which TDS applies, you need a TAN first. Deducting or depositing TDS without one (or failing to quote it) attracts a penalty — ₹10,000 under section 468(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 for failing to obtain or quote it, and the same amount under section 468(2) for quoting a false one.

Not every deduction needs a TAN, and that surprises people in both directions. Section 397(1)(c) exempts a person deducting under section 393(1) on rent paid by a payer who is not a specified person (Table Sl. No. 2(i)), on consideration for the transfer of immovable property (Sl. No. 3(i)), and on contractor, professional or commission payments made by a small individual or HUF (Sl. No. 6(ii)). Those deductions are made on a challan-cum-statement in Form No. 141 instead, within thirty days from the end of the month of deduction, under Rules 218(3) and 219(5) of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 — one form replacing the four separate ones people used to hunt for. So an individual buying a flat does not need a TAN; an employer running payroll certainly does.

Whether you are a "specified person" decides several of these thresholds, and section 402(37) now states it in figures: any person other than an individual or HUF, or an individual or HUF whose sales, gross receipts or turnover exceeded ₹1 crore for a business or ₹50 lakh for a profession in the immediately preceding tax year. Cross that line and obligations that did not previously touch you — rent under Table Sl. No. 2(ii), for instance — begin to apply.

One dated change is worth diarising. From 1 October 2026, the Finance Act, 2026 widens the TAN exemption to cover the deductor on a virtual digital asset payment (Table Sl. No. 8(vi)) and — more commonly relevant — a resident individual or HUF deducting on consideration for the transfer of immovable property where the seller is a non-resident. Before that date the existing requirement stands, so a purchase from an NRI completing in September 2026 is not on the same footing as one completing in November. We will say honestly that the reporting form for that second case has not been prescribed: Rules 218(3) and 219(5) list only section 393(1) rows, and this deduction sits under section 393(2). We will not guess a form number, and you should be wary of anyone who does.

Once you hold a TAN, the machinery is straightforward and unforgiving about dates. Tax is deposited within seven days of the end of the month of deduction, except for March, which runs to 30 April (Rule 218(2)). Quarterly statements go in on Form No. 138 for salary, Form No. 140 for other resident payments, Form No. 144 where the payee is a non-resident, and Form No. 143 for collections (Rule 219(1)) — by 31 July, 31 October, 31 January, and 31 May for the March quarter. We handle the quarterly filings if you would rather not.

We prepare and file your TAN application (Form 49B), track the allotment, and get you ready to file TDS returns.