TRACES 2.0 Portal: The Income Tax Department replaced the old TRACES system with TRACES 2.0, live at traces.tdscpc.gov.in from April 1, 2026. If you've already been redirected from the old URL and are staring at a new interface, you're in the right place. The short version: this portal is for tracking and downloading TDS certificates — not for making TDS payments. That part still happens on the e-filing portal.
TRACES stands for TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System. The new version isn't just a facelift. The back-end logic has changed in a few meaningful ways that affect how you actually file and reconcile.
The biggest shift is conceptual. The old system used two separate time references — Previous Year (PY) and Assessment Year (AY) — which confused people constantly. FY 2023–24 meant you were looking at AY 2024–25, and if you mixed them up, you'd pull the wrong certificate. TRACES 2.0 introduces a single "Tax Year" concept, aligned with the Income Tax Act, 2025, which came into force on April 1, 2026. One year, one label. That's it.
What usually causes confusion here is that taxpayers and their accountants sometimes aren't on the same page about which year the certificate belongs to. The Tax Year change directly solves that.
The other major addition is a separate tab called "Compliance under Income-tax Act, 1961" — this is your access point for everything historical. If you need to file corrections, pull certificates, or access data for FY 2025–26 and earlier, this is where you go. It doesn't disappear; it's just not the default view anymore.
For non-resident taxpayers, there's now a dedicated portal entirely: nriservices.tdscpc.gov.in. Earlier they had to navigate the same portal as residents, which made compliance unnecessarily messy.
The old URL auto-redirects. You don't need to update bookmarks, but the login interface will look different.
What's on the dashboard now:
Real-world example — a salaried employee at the end of the financial year:
Rahul works at a private firm. His employer deducted TDS from his salary throughout FY 2025–26. In April 2026, Rahul logs into TRACES 2.0, navigates to "Downloads," and fetches his Form 16. He also checks his AIS to make sure the TDS credits shown match what his employer actually deposited. If there's a mismatch — say, one quarter shows a lower credit than expected — he can raise a correction request directly from the portal without calling his HR.
Under the old system, he'd have been navigating two separate sections for Form 26AS and AIS. Now it's one screen.
No. TRACES 2.0 is not a payment gateway.
If you're buying a property worth more than ₹50 lakh, you're required to deduct 1% TDS under Section 194-IA. That payment — along with the challan-cum-statement — is filed via Form 26QB on the Income Tax e-filing portal (incometax.gov.in). TRACES plays no part in that step.
But here's the catch: once that payment is processed, TRACES 2.0 becomes essential. You'll need to log back in to:
Real-world example — a property buyer in Mumbai:
Priya buys a flat for ₹80 lakh. She deposits ₹80,000 as TDS using Form 26QB on the e-filing portal. Three days later, she logs into TRACES 2.0 and downloads Form 16B. She notices she accidentally entered the seller's PAN incorrectly by one character. She uses the online correction window on TRACES to fix it before the time limit expires. Without TRACES, she wouldn't have caught this until the seller raised an issue — often months later.
Wrong: Assuming TRACES 2.0 is where you deposit TDS, get confused when the payment option doesn't exist, and delay the transaction.
Right: Deposit TDS via Form 26QB on incometax.gov.in. Then log into TRACES 2.0 for the certificate and credit tracking. Two portals, two distinct jobs.
These aren't edge cases. They come up repeatedly, especially around year-end.
Use this after April 1, 2026:
he old URL automatically redirects to traces.tdscpc.gov.in. The old interface is no longer accessible. All active services have moved to TRACES 2.0, and your login credentials remain valid. If you face login issues after the migration, use the "Forgot Password" option on the new portal.
Previously, you had to track two year labels — the financial year in which income was earned (Previous Year) and the year in which tax was assessed (Assessment Year). They differed by one year, which caused frequent misfiling. The new "Tax Year" replaces both with a single label that corresponds to the financial year. Tax Year 2025–26 means April 2025 to March 2026, straightforwardly.
Log in to TRACES 2.0 after your Form 26QB payment is processed (typically 3–5 working days). Navigate to Downloads → Form 16B. Enter the Tax Year, PAN of the seller, and acknowledgment number from your 26QB submission. The certificate will be available for download once the TDS is credited.
Start by checking AIS on the TRACES 2.0 dashboard alongside Form 26AS. If there's a genuine discrepancy, contact your employer's accounts team first — the issue is usually a delay in depositing the challan or a PAN mismatch. If the employer confirms the deposit but the credit isn't reflecting, you can raise a grievance through the portal.
Yes, and this is important. Corrections to TDS statements have deadlines — the window varies depending on the type of error and the quarter involved. Corrections to PAN details, challan amounts, or deductee details typically need to be filed within the same financial year or shortly after. Waiting until you receive a demand notice significantly limits your options. Always correct as soon as you spot the error.
TRACES 2.0 is genuinely cleaner than what came before — fewer tabs to hunt through, one year label instead of two, and all your core documents in one dashboard. Start by checking your TDS credits for the current Tax Year, verify your certificates, and set a reminder to do it again next quarter.
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