Circular No. 31/2019 — Waiver of interest for TDS deducted under section 194M

What this is

Circular No. 31/2019 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 19 December 2019. Its subject is Waiver of interest for TDS deducted under section 194M.

This is an extension of time. It moves a date that the Act or the Rules otherwise fix, and it does so only for the compliance and the period it names — not for anything else that happens to fall due at the same time.

What it does

Moves the dates for tax deducted under section 194M for September and October 2019. The due date for payment of that tax, and for furnishing the challan-cum-statement in Form No. 26QD, which were 31 October 2019 and 30 November 2019 respectively, are both extended to 31 December 2019. The date for furnishing the certificate of deduction in Form No. 16D for tax deducted in those two months is correspondingly extended to 15 January 2020.

Why it was issued

The utility for payment of tax deducted at source under section 194M was deployed only on 17 December 2019, so the deductors had no means of paying by the original dates.

Who it reaches

Individuals and Hindu undivided families deducting under section 194M on contractual, commission or professional payments
Deductors filing Form No. 26QD for September and October 2019
Payees awaiting a Form No. 16D certificate for those months

The provisions it speaks to

Left, the provision of the Income-tax Act, 1961 as the instrument itself names it. Right, the section of the Income-tax Act, 2025 that the department’s own concordance maps it to — which is where the same ground is now covered.

Under the 1961 Act	Now
s.119	s.239
s.194M	s.393, s.397, s.402

The instrument, as the Board published it

The department publishes this one only as a PDF, so the words below were read out of that PDF by machine. That reading can carry its own mistakes — a misread number, a broken line. Check the signed document before you rely on a figure in it.

F. No. 370142/18/2019-TPL
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Tax Policy Division
Central Board of Direct Taxes
*****
Circular no .. ~1!2019
147B-II, North Block, New Delhi
Dated 19'h December, 2019
Subject: Order under section 119(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961- Extension of the due date
of pavment of tax deducted at source under 194M of the Act -reg.
Considering the fact that the utility for payment of tax deducted at source under section 194M of
the Income-tax Act, 196I(the Act) was deployed on 17.12.2019, the Central Board of Direct
Taxes, in exercise of the powers conferred under 119 of the Act, hereby extends the due date for
payment of tax deducted at source under section 194M during the month of September, 2019 and
October, 2019 and the due date for furnishing the challan-cum-statement in Form 26QD for the
same, from 31.10.2019 and 30.11.2019 respectively to 31.12.2019. Consequently, the due date
of furnishing of the certificate of deduction of tax in Form 16D has also been extended for the
tax deducted during the month of September, 2019 and October, 2019 to 15.01.2020.
Copy to:
(Ankit Jain)
Dy. Commissioner of Income Tax (OSD)
TPL Division
I. PS to FM/OSD to FM/PS to MoS(F)/OSD to MoS(F)
2. PS to Secretary (Revenue)
3. Chairman, CBDT & All Members, Central Board of Direct Taxes
4. All Pr. DOsITI Pr. CCsITI DOsITI CCsIT
5. All Joint Secretaries/ CsIT/Directors/Deputy Secretaries/ Under Secretaries of CBDT
6. The C&AO of India (30 copies)
7. The JS and Legal Adviser, Ministry of Law and Justice, New Delhi
8. CIT (M&TP), Official Spokesperson ofCBDT
9. 0 /0 Pr. DO/T (Systems) for uploading on official website
10. JCIT (Database Cell) for uploading on www.irsofficersonline.!!o\·.in
.rA~--== I.)l-"~~
(Ankit Jain)
Dy. Commissioner of Income Tax (OSD)
TPL Division

What to watch

All three dates it fixes have long passed and the circular is spent.
It covers only the two months of September and October 2019; a deduction for a later month gets nothing from it.
Payment and the challan-cum-statement in Form No. 26QD are collapsed into a single date of 31 December 2019, which is easy to overlook when reconstructing interest.
The circular is expressed as an order under section 119(2) and does not touch the substantive obligation under section 194M.

Where you meet it

In an interest or late fee computation on a Form No. 26QD filed for September or October 2019, where the system may still be working off the original dates.

On the same provision

Other instruments in this library that name the same provision of the 1961 Act. They are not necessarily still operative, and a later one may have replaced an earlier one without saying so.

Circular No. 6/2026 — Condonation of delay in filing Form No. 10AB electronically for approval under clause(ii) of the first proviso to sectio 2 July 2026
Circular No. 2/2026 — Order under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for extension of timeline for issuance of tax deducted at source (TD 25 March 2026
Circular No.15/2025 — Extension of timelines for filing of various reports of audit and income tax returns ITRS for the assessment year 2025 2 29 October 2025
Circular No. 10/2025 — Relaxation of time limit for processing of returns of income filed electronically which were incorrectly invalidated by 28 July 2025
Circular No. 7/2025 — Relaxation of time limit for processing of valid returns of income filed electronically pursuant to order u/s 119(2)(b) 25 June 2025
Circular No. 6/2025 — Extension of due date for furnishing return of income for the Assessment Year 2025-26 27 May 2025

← Circular No. 32/2019 · Circular No. 30/2019 →

A circular binds the department, not you and not a court. The Board issues a circular to its own officers. An assessee may hold the department to a circular that helps him; the department cannot hold an assessee to one that hurts him, and the Tribunal and the courts decide the law for themselves.

Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.