TCS India employees receive tax demand notices from IT dept, company asks them to wait

The Mumbai-headquartered IT major has advised its employees not to make any payments until it receives clarification from the tax authorities, according to The Economic Times report.

The number of employees who got the IT notices could be between a few thousand and up to 30,000, as per reports.

TCS, however, did not comment on the matter.

According to internal communications, TCS's HR team has instructed employees to withhold payment until the discrepancies are resolved.

The issue relates to tax deductions at source (TDS) for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024.

In an internal memo sent on Tuesday, TCS acknowledged the receipt of income-tax demand notices by some employees and stated that it had approached the tax authorities for a prompt resolution.

The following day, the company informed employees that it had received clarification from the tax authorities on the matter, as reported by The Economic Times.

“We understand that the tax authorities will be reprocessing the returns, post which TDS (tax deduction at source) shall be in sync with form 26AS issued by the income-tax department, and Form 16 Part A issued by TCS,” the company wrote to its employees.

“Associates that received the notice will receive a rectification intimation in due course, and are not required to pay any demand amount," it added. "Once the tax authorities send the rectification intimation, the discrepancies should be resolved.”

Form 26AS provides a summary of TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) and TCS (Tax Collected at Source) amounts deducted from a taxpayer's income, as well as any taxes paid.

Meanwhile, Form 16A, which is issued by the employer, carries all amounts of TDS deposited with the Income Tax department.