Form 16A is the TDS certificate you must give to anyone from whom you deducted tax on a non-salary payment. For the July–September 2026 quarter, the usual deadline to issue it is 15 November 2026, which is 15 days after the 31 October due date of the quarterly TDS return. This guide walks you through how to prepare, download and issue Form 16A without last-minute trouble.
What is Form 16A and who gets it?
Form 16A is a certificate of tax deducted at source (TDS) on payments other than salary. If you paid a contractor, a freelancer, a professional, a landlord or a lender and deducted TDS, the person you paid needs this certificate to claim credit for that tax in their own return.
- Form 16 is for salary TDS, issued once a year to employees.
- Form 16A is for all other TDS, issued every quarter, separately for each deductee.
It shows your TAN, the deductee's PAN, the amount paid, the tax deducted and the challan details through which the tax reached the government.
The timeline for the July–September 2026 quarter
StepUsual date TDS deposited for the month of September7 October Quarterly TDS return (Form 26Q for most businesses)31 October 2026 Form 16A issued to deductees15 November 2026These are statutory default dates. Extensions are sometimes notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, so check incometax.gov.in before you rely on them.
Why the return must come first
Form 16A is not something you can type up yourself. It is generated on the TRACES portal, and only after your quarterly statement has been filed and processed. If the return has errors or is still unprocessed, the certificate will not be available. This is why filing the return early gives you a comfortable buffer. Our TDS return checklist for July–September 2026 covers what to verify before filing.
Step-by-step: getting Form 16A from TRACES
- Log in to TRACES as a deductor using your TAN credentials.
- Check that your quarterly statement shows as processed, and that there are no pending default notices that block downloads.
- Request the Form 16A download for the relevant financial year and quarter.
- Download the certificates once they are generated, and authenticate them as the portal requires.
- Send each certificate to the right deductee by email or through your normal records process, and keep proof of dispatch.
Common reasons Form 16A goes wrong
- Wrong or missing PAN. If the deductee's PAN is incorrect in your return, the credit may not appear against them. Collect PANs before the first payment and validate them.
- Challan mismatch. The challan details in your return must match what the bank and the tax department hold. A typing mistake in the challan serial number or date can leave the deduction unmatched.
- Late deposit of tax. If you deduct tax but deposit it late, you can face interest and possibly other consequences, and your deductees may see delayed credit.
- Deducting at the wrong rate. A lower or higher rate than applicable creates reconciliation questions later.
- Not issuing at all. Some businesses skip the step. Deductees then chase you for the certificate at the worst time, close to their own filing date.
What your vendors will do with it
The person you paid will compare Form 16A with the credit visible in their Form 26AS and Annual Information Statement. If the figures match, they claim the TDS credit smoothly. If not, they ask you to correct the return. A quick pre-issue check across your own records saves a lot of back-and-forth.
A simple pre-issue checklist
- Confirm the quarterly return is filed and processed.
- Match the TDS payable in your books with the challans paid.
- List each deductee with PAN, section-wise payments and TDS amounts.
- Download the certificates and spot-check a few against your ledger.
- Issue them to all deductees and log the date sent.
Key takeaways
- Form 16A is the quarterly TDS certificate for non-salary payments; the usual due date for the July–September quarter is 15 November 2026.
- It can be downloaded only after the quarterly return is filed and processed on TRACES.
- Accurate PANs and challan details prevent most problems.
- Keep your TDS ledger tidy during the quarter so that certificates simply confirm what your books already say.
Clean vendor records and a well-kept ledger make this exercise much easier, which is the everyday bookkeeping that Smart Books is built to support. As always, confirm specific cases with your chartered accountant. Also see our guide to TDS compliance basics for growing companies.