Mechanism: Requires deductors to furnish the prescribed TDS returns/statements; in current practice the obligation is carried by section 200(3), processed under section 200A.
Litigation profile: Negligible as an independent provision — the candour rule applies.
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
Section 206 required persons deducting tax at source to prepare and deliver, within the prescribed time, the prescribed returns/statements of tax deducted. With the comprehensive periodic-statement regime now housed in section 200(3) (and processed under section 200A), section 206 has been substantially overtaken; it survives as part of the reporting architecture but its operative content is now largely carried by section 200(3).
The duty to file TDS statements is, in current practice, the section 200(3) obligation; section 206 is best read as the older, parallel reporting requirement now subsumed within that scheme. The consequences of non-furnishing (the section 234E late fee and the section 271H penalty, with processing under section 200A) attach through that machinery. In candour, section 206 generates no independent body of merits authority; it is applied as part of the reporting scheme.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced from the Income-tax Act, 1961 as amended up to the Finance Act, 2025 (the Finance Act, 2026 makes no amendment to this section). Editorial markers “***” denote text omitted by the Legislature.
206. (1) The prescribed person in the case of every office of Government, the principal officer in the case of every company, the prescribed person in the case of every local authority or other public body or association, every private employer and every other person responsible for deducting tax before the 1st day of April, 2005 under the foregoing provisions of this Chapter shall, within the prescribed time after the end of each financial year, prepare and deliver or cause to be delivered to the prescribed income-tax authority or such other authority or agency as may be prescribed, such returns in such form and verified in such manner and setting forth such particulars as may be prescribed:
Provided that the Board may, if it considers necessary or expedient so to do, frame a scheme for the purposes of filing such returns with such other authority or agency referred to in this sub-section.
(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), the person responsible for deducting tax under the foregoing provisions of this Chapter other than the prescribed person in the case of every office of the Government and the principal officer in the case of every company may, at his option, deliver or cause to be delivered such return to the prescribed income-tax authority in accordance with such scheme as may be specified by the Board in this behalf, by notification in the Official Gazette, and subject to such conditions as may be specified therein, on or before the prescribed time after the end of each financial year, on a floppy, diskette, magnetic cartridge tape, CD-ROM or any other computer readable media (hereinafter referred to as the computer media) and in the manner as may be specified in that scheme :
Provided that the prescribed person in the case of every office of Government and the principal officer in the case of every company responsible for deducting tax under the foregoing provisions of this Chapter shall, deliver or cause to be delivered, within the prescribed time after the end of each financial year, such returns on computer media under the said scheme.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, a return filed on computer media shall be deemed to be a return for the purposes of this section and the rules made thereunder and shall be admissible in any proceedings thereunder, without further proof of production of the original, as evidence of any contents of the original or of any fact stated therein.
(4) Where the Assessing Officer considers that the return delivered or caused to be delivered under sub-section (2) is defective, he may intimate the defect to the person responsible for deducting tax or the principal officer in the case of a company, as the case may be, and give him an opportunity of rectifying the defect within a period of fifteen days from the date of such intimation or within such further period which, on an application made in this behalf, the Assessing Officer may, in his discretion, allow; and if the defect is not rectified within the said period of fifteen days or, as the case may be, the further period so allowed, then, notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of this Act, such return shall be treated as an invalid return and the provisions of this Act shall apply as if such person had failed to deliver the return.
C. AUTHORITIES
Candour rule observed: section 206 is a reporting provision now largely subsumed by section 200(3). The statutory scheme is offered.
Principle: The periodic TDS-statement obligation is operated through section 200(3) and processed under section 200A, with the section 234E fee and section 271H penalty for default; section 206 is the older parallel reporting requirement, now largely carried by that scheme.
Use: Locates section 206 within the current reporting architecture.
Compiled for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text is reproduced verbatim from the bare Act; case-law citations have been web-verified. Where a section is new, narrow or substantially unlitigated, the candour rule is observed — the absence of direct authority is stated and only genuinely cognate authority is offered. This digest is for professional reference and is not a substitute for the official report of any judgment.
CHAPTER XVII — COLLECTION AND RECOVERY OF TAX · B.—DEDUCTION AT SOURCE
Section 206 — Persons Deducting Tax to Furnish Prescribed Returns (Tax Deducted at Source)
Case Laws & Commentary · Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) · bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Live but largely subsumed by section 200(3).
Finance Act, 2026: No amendment.
Mechanism: Requires deductors to furnish the prescribed TDS returns/statements; in current practice the obligation is carried by section 200(3), processed under section 200A.
Litigation profile: Negligible as an independent provision — the candour rule applies.
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
Section 206 required persons deducting tax at source to prepare and deliver, within the prescribed time, the prescribed returns/statements of tax deducted. With the comprehensive periodic-statement regime now housed in section 200(3) (and processed under section 200A), section 206 has been substantially overtaken; it survives as part of the reporting architecture but its operative content is now largely carried by section 200(3).
Overlap with section 200(3) and candour
The duty to file TDS statements is, in current practice, the section 200(3) obligation; section 206 is best read as the older, parallel reporting requirement now subsumed within that scheme. The consequences of non-furnishing (the section 234E late fee and the section 271H penalty, with processing under section 200A) attach through that machinery. In candour, section 206 generates no independent body of merits authority; it is applied as part of the reporting scheme.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced from the Income-tax Act, 1961 as amended up to the Finance Act, 2025 (the Finance Act, 2026 makes no amendment to this section). Editorial markers “***” denote text omitted by the Legislature.
206. (1) The prescribed person in the case of every office of Government, the principal officer in the case of every company, the prescribed person in the case of every local authority or other public body or association, every private employer and every other person responsible for deducting tax before the 1st day of April, 2005 under the foregoing provisions of this Chapter shall, within the prescribed time after the end of each financial year, prepare and deliver or cause to be delivered to the prescribed income-tax authority or such other authority or agency as may be prescribed, such returns in such form and verified in such manner and setting forth such particulars as may be prescribed:
Provided that the Board may, if it considers necessary or expedient so to do, frame a scheme for the purposes of filing such returns with such other authority or agency referred to in this sub-section.
(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), the person responsible for deducting tax under the foregoing provisions of this Chapter other than the prescribed person in the case of every office of the Government and the principal officer in the case of every company may, at his option, deliver or cause to be delivered such return to the prescribed income-tax authority in accordance with such scheme as may be specified by the Board in this behalf, by notification in the Official Gazette, and subject to such conditions as may be specified therein, on or before the prescribed time after the end of each financial year, on a floppy, diskette, magnetic cartridge tape, CD-ROM or any other computer readable media (hereinafter referred to as the computer media) and in the manner as may be specified in that scheme :
Provided that the prescribed person in the case of every office of Government and the principal officer in the case of every company responsible for deducting tax under the foregoing provisions of this Chapter shall, deliver or cause to be delivered, within the prescribed time after the end of each financial year, such returns on computer media under the said scheme.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, a return filed on computer media shall be deemed to be a return for the purposes of this section and the rules made thereunder and shall be admissible in any proceedings thereunder, without further proof of production of the original, as evidence of any contents of the original or of any fact stated therein.
(4) Where the Assessing Officer considers that the return delivered or caused to be delivered under sub-section (2) is defective, he may intimate the defect to the person responsible for deducting tax or the principal officer in the case of a company, as the case may be, and give him an opportunity of rectifying the defect within a period of fifteen days from the date of such intimation or within such further period which, on an application made in this behalf, the Assessing Officer may, in his discretion, allow; and if the defect is not rectified within the said period of fifteen days or, as the case may be, the further period so allowed, then, notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of this Act, such return shall be treated as an invalid return and the provisions of this Act shall apply as if such person had failed to deliver the return.
C. AUTHORITIES
Candour rule observed: section 206 is a reporting provision now largely subsumed by section 200(3). The statutory scheme is offered.
Statutory backdrop — reporting now under section 200(3)
Subsumption within section 200(3)/200A
Principle: The periodic TDS-statement obligation is operated through section 200(3) and processed under section 200A, with the section 234E fee and section 271H penalty for default; section 206 is the older parallel reporting requirement, now largely carried by that scheme.
Use: Locates section 206 within the current reporting architecture.
Compiled for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text is reproduced verbatim from the bare Act; case-law citations have been web-verified. Where a section is new, narrow or substantially unlitigated, the candour rule is observed — the absence of direct authority is stated and only genuinely cognate authority is offered. This digest is for professional reference and is not a substitute for the official report of any judgment.