Form 24Q is a tax form used in India to report TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) on salary payments. It is required to be filed to the Indian government by employers or persons responsible for deducting TDS on salary payments.

The Form 24Q consists of four quarters, with each quarter representing three months ending in June (for Q1), September (for Q2), December (for Q3), and March (for Q4). Employers are required to file the form every quarter, with the deadline for filing being the last day of the month following the end of the quarter.

Text File Generation

Form 24Q module can generate the text file based on each employee’s salary and TDS information. Based on the employee details, challans, and the quarterly salary data,a standardised text file that complies with the Income Tax Department’s requirements will be generated automatically and will be available for download in compliance form.

What is a text file?

The text file is a standardised digital document that contains all the necessary information required for filing Form 24Q. It includes details about your employees, their salaries, TDS deductions, and challan details. This file is specifically formatted to comply with the Income Tax Department’s requirements.The text file is a standardised digital document that contains all the necessary information required for filing Form 24Q. It includes details about your employees, their salaries, TDS deductions, and challan details. This file is specifically formatted to comply with the Income Tax Department’s requirements.

Prerequisites

• Ensure that the employees’ PAN and employer’s TAN are correct.

• Make sure that the pay run has been processed for the quarter you want to generate the text file.

• Record the challan and associate the payment amount with the TDS Payment Tracker.

Here’s how you can generate the text file

• Navigate to Payroll → Salary Payslip. 

• After the payslip generation for the quarter, click the Closure button and select Quarter closure.A pop-up window will appear- select the Assessment Year and quarter from the dropdown.

• Navigate to Tax and Statutory Compliances → Tax Rules → TDS Payment Tracker.

• All TDS deducted for the quarter will be displayed. Select the relevant record and click the Update button and fill in all the mandatory fields and save.

• Then navigate to Tax and Statutory Compliance → Compliance Form → Form 24Q.

• Click Generate Form 24Q, choose the respective quarter and Submit.

• Once the Form 24Q is successfully generated, go again to Tax and Statutory Compliance → Compliance Forms → Form 24Q.

• For the generated Quarter card, click the Generate button to proceed.

Note: You cannot generate the text file if there are pending pay runs for the filing period.

• The text file will be generated. Click the View Details button to download the text file.

• Click Download.

• Use this text file for FVU generation and proceed with filing Form 24Q.
  

Fig: Quarter Closure

Fig: Form 24Q Generation

Fig: TDS Payment Tracker

Fig: Generate Text File

Fig: Download Text File

Fig: Sample Text File

Download the CSI (Challan Status Inquiry) File

You’ll need to download the CSI file from the Income Tax Department’s portal and use it as a reference when preparing your TDS return.

What is the CSI file?

The CSI (Challan Status Inquiry) file is a crucial document that contains details about the tax payments made by you as a TDS deductor. It includes information such as the challan number, payment date, amount paid, and other relevant details.

If you are yet to login to Income Tax portal, here’s how you can download the CSI file:

• Go to the Income Tax Department’s portal.

• In the Quick Links section, click Download CSI file

• Login to the portal using TAN and mobile number.

• Select the Payment Dates (From and To Date)

• Click Download Challan File.

If you have already logged in to the Income Tax Department’s portal, here’s how you can download the CSI file.

• Click E-File and select E-Pay Tax.

• Switch to the Challan Status Inquiry (CSI) File tab.

• Select the Payment Dates (From and To Date)

• Click Download Challan File.

Validating Your Form 24Q Text File

Once you have successfully generated and downloaded the text file from the application, and the CSI file you’ve downloaded from the Income Tax Department, the next critical step is to validate it using the File Validation Utility (FVU) provided by the Income Tax Department. This process ensures that your file adheres to the prescribed legal format.

You need to download the FVU to validate the text file you’ve downloaded from the application. Here’s how:

Downloading FVU

• Go to the Protean Tinpan website.

• Download the latest FVU for the period you are filing.

Install FVU on your device. Ensure you have the necessary system requirements met.

Once installed, locate the FVU application on your device and open it.

• In the TDS/TCS Input File Name with Path field, browse and upload the text file you’ve downloaded from the application.

• In the Challan Input File Name with Path, browse and upload the CSI file you’ve downloaded from the Income Tax portal.

• In the Error / Upload & Statistics Report File Path, browse and enter / paste the file path, where you want the error file to be downloaded.

• In the Consolidate file name with path, browse and enter/paste the file path, where you want the .fvu file to be downloaded

• After selecting the file, click Validate.

FVU will start analysing the text file to check for errors or discrepancies.

Upload the Form 24Q File

• Log in to the Income Tax Department’s portal.

• Log in using your TAN details.

• Click e-File, then navigate to Income Tax Forms and select File Income Tax Forms.

• Click File Now next to Form 24Q.

• Upload the .fvu file that was generated in the previous step.

• Click Proceed to e-Verify.