Section 194C - TDS on payment to contractors

TDS on payments to contractors: withholding required on contractor payments unless statutory exceptions and declarations apply.

Tax must be withheld by a payer on payments to residents for carrying out any work under a contract with a specified person, at rates that depend on the payee and PAN status; where manufacture or supply uses customer provided material, withholding is on invoice value excluding material if separately stated, otherwise on the whole invoice. Exemptions include qualifying transport operators who own not more than ten goods carriages and furnish the prescribed PAN-backed declaration, and payers must report such non-deduction in Form 26Q with penalty exposure for non-compliance.