What is TDS?

TDS stands for tax deducted at source.

As per the Income Tax Act, any company or person making a payment is required to deduct tax at source if the payment exceeds certain threshold limits.

Is TDS applicable for Co-operative Housing Societies and Apartment Associations?

Yes. Under the Income Tax Act, a Cooperative Housing Society is taxable entity. It is mandatory for any registered co-operative housing society / apartment association to deduct TDS, pay deducted TDS to Government on time, file TDS Returns on time and issue TDS certificates to deductees on time.

What happens if an Apartment Association does not deduct TDS?

If an apartment association fails to deduct tax at source, then the ASSESSING OFFICER has powers to disallow whole of such payments made as expenditure when arriving at taxable profits for such apartment association. For example, ABC CHS  paid a single security agency Rs 10,00,000/- during the year and failed to deduct tax on the same, then the Assessing Officer has powers to disallow entire Rs. 10,00,000/- as your expenditure (which means ABC CHS’s “profits” will increase by Rs. 10,00,000/- and Income Tax will be levied on the same).

What is amount/percentage to be deducted as TDS by our Housing Society?

The amount of TDS to be deducted depends on 4 major components:

(a) The nature of services for which payment is being made. Services fall under different sections of IT Act.

(b) If the receiver of payment (Vendor) is  an Individual / Organization

(c) Value of a single Bill raised by the Vendor being made

(d) Total Value of Bills raised by the same vendor during the financial year

While there are many sections that are applicable, most relevant and commonly applicable sections in case of Apartment Association / Housing Society are below:

You can refer TDS Rate Chart on Income Tax Website for comprehensive list of sections and the latest rates.

All these can be easily configured in ApnaComplex Society Accounting module.

When should the Apartment Association deduct TDS?

TDS should be deducted when (a) Payment is being made to the vendor OR (b) Due date of the Bill raised by the Vendor  – which ever is earlier.

Can you give some examples of TDS calculations in Housing Society?

Below are some frequent use cases:

Example – 1: if a security agency gives a bill for Rs. 2,00,000 on Jul 1st with a due date of July 31st, and the payment is made on Aug 5th – TDS has be to accounted in July itself.

Example – 2: if you are paying a painting vendor an advance payment of Rs. 50,000 to begin work on painting – TDS of Rs. 1000 (2% of Rs. 50,000) has to deducted on the date of payment and only Rs. 49,000/- to be paid to the Vendor.  Ensure you do not deduct TDS again on the Bill when you receive the final bill from the painting vendor.

Example – 3: if you are paying a book-keeping firm in 3 installments during the year-

First Installment – Rs. 15,000 no TDS to be deducted (Total payment during financial year is Rs. 15,000 – which is less than Rs. 30,000 allowed under 194J).

Second Installment – Rs. 12,000/- no TDS to be deducted (Total payment during financial year is Rs. 27,000 – which is less than Rs. 30,000 allowed under 194J)

Third Installment – Rs. 9,000/- 10% TDS to be deducted on Rs. 36,000 (Total payment during financial year is Rs. 36,000 – which is more than Rs. 30,000 allowed under 194J – TDS needs to be deducted for entire amount of Rs. 36,000/-).

It is good practice to deduct TDS with every payment if you are sure that you will have to pay all installments during the year.

Example -4: if you are paying your Maintenance Agency in two installments during the year –

First installment – Rs. 60,000/- TDS to be deducted at 2% (as single payment is more than Rs. 30,000)

Second installment – Rs. 15,000/- No TDS (as single payment is less than Rs. 30,000 and total payments during the year is not more than Rs. 1,00,000)

Example -5: if you are paying your Maintenance Agency in three installments during the year –

First installment – Rs. 25,000/- No TDS to be deducted (as single payment is less than Rs. 30,000 and total payments during the year is Rs 25,000 which is not more than Rs. 1,00,000)

Second installment – Rs. 25,000/- No TDS (as single payment is less than 30,000 and total payments during the year is Rs 50,000 which is not more than Rs. 1,00,000)

Third installment – Rs. 25,000/- No TDS (as single payment is less than Rs. 30,000 and total payments during the year is Rs. 75,000 not more than Rs. 1,00,000)

Should TDS be calculated on the Bill Amount including GST or Excluding GST?

Taxes must be excluded for purposes of TDS calculation.

For example, if your vendor gives you a bill for Rs. 50,000+18% GST – TDS is to be calculated only on Rs. 50,000/-

By when should we pay TDS to Government and how do we pay the amount?

Except for month of March, all amounts deducted as TDS in a given month needs to be paid on or before 7th of subsequent month. For month of March the due date date of payment is April 30th.

Non-payment or late payment of TDS will attract interest @ 1.5% per month until the tax has not been deposited.

Refer Income Tax Website on How to Pay the TDS deducted to Government online. Challan  type 281 is used for TDS payments. Please refer this extensive Do’s and Don’ts to avoid errors while making the payment provided by NSDL.

What are TDS Returns?

After paying TDS every month, the apartment association needs to file TDS Returns. A TDS Return is a quarterly statement which has to be submitted to the income tax department every quarter. TDS returns has details of

(a) PAN of the deductor (your PAN number)

(b) PAN of deductees, particulars of tax paid to the government against each deductee,

(c) TDS challan information and other details

There are different forms to be used for different types of TDS deductions and deductees. For most housing societies and apartment associations, Form 26Q is the most relevant as it deals with all non-salary deductions.

Filing TDS is a slightly complex process. We recommend you take professional help from your auditor to file error-free, timely returns as there are penalties and late payment interest for non-filing/late-filing/filing with errors. If you are interested in filing on own, you can refer TDS Return filing manual.

What is the due date for filing TDS Returns?

TDS returns need to be filed for every quarter. For Apr-Jun quarter – filing needs to be done by 31st July. For Jul-Sep quarter – filing needs to be done by 31st Oct. For Oct-Dec quarter, filing needs to be done by 31st Jan. For Jan-Mar quarter, filing needs to be done by May 31st.

Filing TDS returns on time is mandatory for every deductor, failing which deductor will attract late payment fees @ Rs 200/- per day until the return is filed. However, this amount shall not exceed the amount of tax. In addition to this ASSESSING OFFICER may direct the deductor to pay penalty minimum of Rs. 10,000 which may extend to Rs.1,00,000.

My Vendor is asking me NOT to deduct TDS on his/her payment as they are exempt. What should I do?

Request you vendor to submit a letter/certificate issued by Income Tax Department providing such exemption. (In order to get such certificate your vendor needs to reach out to IT department seeking exemption by filing Form 13/15G/15H.)

My Vendor whom I deducted TDS is asking me to provide TDS Certificate / Form 16A. What do I do?

TDS certificates are issued by the deductor (the person who is deducting tax) to the deductee (the person from whose payment the tax is deducted). . These certificates provide details of TDS for various transactions between deductor and deductee. It is mandatory to issue these certificates to your Vendors every quarter. There are mainly two types of TDS certificates issued by the deductor:

(a) Form 16 : is issued by the employer to the employee incorporating details of tax deducted by the employer throughout the year

(b) Form 16A : is issued all non-salary related deductions. This is most relevant to Apartment Associations.

To get Form 16A: Its best to take professional help to obtain the same. If your auditor has filed your TDS returns, usually s/he will provide the same to you. Please ensure you have obtained them and mailed / distributed the same to your vendors every quarter.

If you are self-service oriented:  Login to Government’s TRACES (TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System) You may have to register as a new user if this is the first time your society is deducting TDS.  Post that follow the steps on the TRACES system to download Form 16A.

What are pre-requisites to deduct TDS?

Apartment Association needs to have a TAN (Tax Deduction Account Number). It is 10 digit alpha numeric number required to be obtained by all entities who are responsible for deducting or collecting tax. It is mandatory to quote TAN allotted by the Income Tax Department on all TDS returns. The procedure for application of TAN is very simple and can be done online.  Apply For TAN  on NSDL Site.

Does ApnaComplex Accounting handle TDS?

Absolutely. In ApnaComplex Society Billing and Accounting module, you can have the ability to:

(a) Capture PAN/TAN/TDS Rate for each vendor as  part of master setup.

(b) Record Vendor Bills and Advance Payments to Vendors along with TDS deducted. ApnaComplex will automatically calculate TDS for a given vendor’s bill based on the TDS rate configured.

(c) Easily maintain different TDS Payable Ledgers per different sections (such as 194C, 194J)

(d) Get Monthly Report of all TDS Deducted to arrive at your liability to Government

(e) Record the payments made to Government under TDS/Tax Payments section.

(f) All necessary accounting entries are auto-magically taken care of by the platform.

In addition, ApnaComplex has a strong eco-system of partners offering Accounting and Auditing Services to Housing Societies using ApnaComplex platform. You can reach out to us with your society details and we shall put you in touch with professionals you can ensure TDS compliance for your apartment association.

Disclaimer: This information is offered as a public service. While we try to make it accurate as possible as on the date of publication, the laws change and more importantly the way we interpret laws could also change. We cannot promise that this information is always up-to-date and correct. We strongly recommend you to always consult appropriate professional advisers for your society to ensure compliance. We are not responsible for any actions or non-actions that are done by you based on the information present in this article or any other article on this blog.