TDS Rate Chart FY 2026-27 with New Sections and Free PDF

How to read the TDS rate chart under the new Act

The Income-tax Act, 1961 had a separate section for each kind of payment: 194A for interest, 194C for contractors, 194J for fees and so on. The 2025 Act puts almost all of them into one section, 393, with three tables:

• Section 393(1): payments to residents. This is the table you will use most: eight serial numbers, most of them split into sub-items.
• Section 393(2): payments to non-residents.
• Section 393(3): payments to any person, resident or not, such as lottery winnings, cash withdrawals and payments to partners.

Salary stays on its own in section 392. Each row of a table gives the payment (column B), the person who must deduct (column C) and the rate with the threshold (column D). So the full reference for a contractor payment reads “section 393(1) [Table: Sl. No. 6(i)]”. That is the reference you quote in the TDS return, not “194C”.

Two rules from the opening lines of section 393(1), and one from the Department’s FAQs, apply to every row:

1. Timing: tax is deducted when the amount is credited to the payee’s account or when it is paid, whichever is earlier.
2. Entire amount: once the payment, or the total for the year, crosses the threshold, TDS applies to the whole amount, not just the part above the limit. Purchase of goods is the exception: there TDS is only on the amount above ₹50 lakh.
3. Which Act applies: the Income Tax Department’s FAQs say it depends on the earlier of credit or payment. If that happened on or before 31 March 2026, the 1961 Act and its old section numbers apply. If it happened on or after 1 April 2026, use the 2025 Act.

Many rows say the payer is a “specified person”. Section 402(37) defines this as anyone who is not an individual or HUF (companies, firms and so on), plus an individual or HUF whose turnover in the previous tax year exceeded ₹1 crore in business or ₹50 lakh in a profession. So a small proprietor below those limits who pays a lawyer deducts nothing: row 6(iii) applies only to a specified person, and row 6(ii) only once the year’s payments cross ₹50 lakh. A salaried person paying a plumber to repair their own home is in the same position, and section 393(4) also excludes payments made by an individual purely for personal purposes from rows 6(i) and 6(iii).

TDS rate chart FY 2026-27: payments to residents (section 393(1))

This is the complete section 393(1) table in plain words, with the old 1961 Act section for each row. Where the Act says “rates in force”, the rate shown is the one in the CBDT’s chart for tax year 2026-27 (10% for interest, 5% or 10% for insurance commission).

Two rows need a closer look. The 2(i) rent row is for an individual or HUF who is not a specified person, such as a salaried tenant paying high rent. They deduct 2% only once, from the rent for the last month of the tax year or of the tenancy, and they do not need a TAN for it (section 397(1)). The 6(ii) row is a catch-all for the same kind of person when they pay a contractor, a professional or an agent more than ₹50 lakh in a year.

Payments to any person (section 393(3)) and salary (section 392)

Section 393(3) covers payments where the payee’s residence does not matter. Winnings carry 30%, the highest rate for residents.

Salary works differently. Section 392(1) asks the employer to deduct at the average rate of tax on the employee’s estimated salary for the year, so there is no flat percentage. The monthly payroll steps are in our payroll process guide.

TDS rates for payments to non-residents (section 393(2))

Any payment to a non-resident not listed in another row falls under the last one, “any other sum”, taxed at the rates in force. The CBDT chart adds that these rates are increased by surcharge and Health and Education cess. For income of a Foreign Institutional Investor (Sl. No. 15), a lower treaty rate can apply with a certificate under section 159(8). The common rows:

The return for these payments is a separate quarterly form. Our TDS meaning and return filing guide has the full form mapping (24Q to 138, 26Q to 140, 27Q to 144), the due dates, and the interest and late fee for missing them.

TDS rate chart with new sections: old to new lookup

If you know the old section number, find it here. “Sl.” is the serial number in the section’s table, so “393(1) Sl. 6(i)” means section 393(1) [Table: Sl. No. 6(i)]. The pairs come from the CBDT’s two official charts (one for each Act), which list the same payments with identical rates. The Department’s own FAQ example confirms one pair: 194C is now section 393(1) [Table: Sl. No. 6(i)].

Quoting the old section for a payment made after 1 April 2026 can cost you a correction. The Department’s FAQ warns that it “may lead to processing errors” when the return is filed, and the deductor may have to file a correction statement. Its FAQs also say accounting and payroll software needs updating for the new numbering.

No PAN and no-TDS cases: the rules around the chart

When the payee has no PAN

Section 397(2) says a payee must give the deductor a valid PAN. If they don’t, tax is deducted at the highest of three: the rate in the chart, the rates in force, or 20%. For purchase of goods (Sl. No. 8(ii)) and e-commerce (Sl. No. 8(v)) the third figure is 5% instead of 20%. For rent under Sl. No. 2(i), the no-PAN deduction cannot exceed the rent for the last month.

When no TDS is deducted

Section 393(4) lists cases where a row does not apply even above the threshold. The ones you will meet most often:

• An individual or HUF paying a contractor or a professional purely for personal purposes, such as repairing their own house (rows 6(i) and 6(iii); row 6(ii) still applies above ₹50 lakh).
• A transporter who owns ten or fewer goods carriages and gives a declaration with PAN.
• Dividend paid to an individual shareholder by a non-cash mode, up to ₹10,000 in the year.
• An individual or HUF selling on an e-commerce platform with gross sales up to ₹5,00,000 in the year, who has given PAN or Aadhaar.
• Interest paid to a bank or an insurance company, and interest paid by a firm to its partner (that is covered by the partner row in section 393(3) instead).

Section 393(5) adds that no TDS is deducted on amounts paid to the Government or the Reserve Bank of India. And under section 393(6), a resident whose total income for the year will be nil can give a declaration so that interest, dividend, rent and some other income is paid without TDS, subject to the limits in that sub-section.

Worked examples with the FY 2026-27 rates

All names and figures below are hypothetical.

The first row is a common interview question. Students often say “TDS on ₹12,000, the part above ₹1,00,000”. The Act says “the entire amount”, so it is ₹1,120 on the full ₹1,12,000. In the rent case, the trap runs the other way: ₹5,40,000 a year sounds large, but the rent test is monthly, so a company paying ₹45,000 a month deducts nothing.

Did TDS rates change in FY 2026-27?

No. The Income Tax Department’s TDS compliance FAQ answers this directly: “The TDS rates and monetary thresholds for all categories of payments have been retained as they are under the Income Tax Act, 1961.” It calls section 393 “a simplified tabular presentation” and not a change in tax policy.

The Finance Act, 2026 did amend section 393 from 1 April 2026, but in the side rules, not in the rate tables. Two changes are worth knowing. Interest paid to a co-operative bank is now outside TDS. And interest on compensation awarded by a Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal is now free of TDS when paid to an individual. We compared the as-enacted and amended text of section 393 line by line on incometaxindia.gov.in, and every rate and threshold in the three tables is unchanged.

Download the TDS rate chart PDF for FY 2026-27

The TDS rate chart FY 2026-27 PDF is free, with no sign-up. It prints on three A4 landscape pages: the residents’ chart, the other tables with the no-PAN rule, and the old-to-new lookup. Every figure comes from the same rows as this page.

If you prefer the Department’s own version, the CBDT publishes a TDS rates chart for tax year 2026-27. It lists rates by payee type, with only a few thresholds in its notes, so keep both handy.

How we teach this at IPA

Nobody in an accounts job recites this chart from memory. What the work needs is the judgement around it: which row a payment belongs to, whether the payer is a specified person, and whether the year’s total has crossed the threshold. That is why IPA’s Diploma in Taxation Law (5 months, classroom, live online or hybrid) teaches TDS as a working sequence: the concept of TDS, computing it, TDS challans, return filing, and TDS certificates (Form 16, now Form 130). The same TDS topics run through IPA’s 15- and 18-month accounting diplomas, next to GST and income tax returns.

If you are preparing for an accounts job, expect at least one TDS question; our accounting interview questions and answers include them. For the deductee’s side, claiming TDS credit in the return, see the income tax return filing guide, and for the wider choice of tax courses, the taxation courses in India guide.

Frequently asked questions