Statutory Compliance Calendar 2026-27: PF, ESI, TDS, PT, LWF and Bonus Due Dates

A statutory compliance calendar lists the dates by which an Indian employer has to deposit payroll dues and file returns. For FY 2026-27, two dates come round every month: salary TDS by the 7th and PF and ESI by the 15th. Add the quarterly Form 138 (which replaced Form 24Q on 1 April 2026), Form 130 by 15 June (which replaced Form 16) and statutory bonus by 30 November, and you have most of the year.

Few payroll teams miss a date because of a new labour code notification. They miss it on an ordinary 7th, when salary TDS should already be in the challan, or on the 15th, with the PF and ESI files still open on someone's desktop. Keep this page where whoever runs payroll can see it, and fill in the state PT and LWF rows for your locations.

Some 2026-27 dates have already passed. They stay in the table so the year reads as one sheet. If you only need the dates, go to the month-by-month table. If you are still sorting out the form renames and the new PF ceiling, start with what changed this year.

Nothing here is tax or legal advice. Due dates below are from the Income-tax Act, 2025 and Rules, 2026 (in force from 1 April 2026), the EPF Scheme, the ESI contribution rules as published by ESIC, and section 39 of the Code on Wages, 2019 (labour codes in force from 21 November 2025). State PT and LWF dates change by state notification. Law as at 2 November 2026.

What does this statutory compliance calendar cover?

It covers the recurring employer dates that apply to every Indian company with people on payroll. Each month has a TDS deposit date and a PF/ESI date. Every quarter you file the salary TDS statement. Once a year you issue the salary TDS certificate and, if your accounting year runs April to March, pay statutory bonus by 30 November. Professional tax and labour welfare fund are added on top, state by state.

Our payroll compliance checklist walks through the tasks themselves. This post is the date sheet behind them: the checklist tells you what to do, this page tells you by when.

Some things are left out on purpose: GST returns, advance tax instalments, director KYC, secretarial filings, one-off registrations, and state returns such as shops-and-establishment leave returns, contract-labour licences and factory returns. Keep your own state list for those. If your company has not registered for PF or ESI yet, do that first. The monthly calendar starts once you are registered.

What are the two monthly dates you cannot miss?

• 7th of the next month: deposit of TDS on salary for April to February (rule 218 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026). March TDS is due on 30 April.
• 15th of the next month: PF contribution and ECR, and ESI contribution, for the wage month just closed.

Section 10 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 says that if the last day of a prescribed period falls on a day when the relevant court or office is closed, an act done on the next day the office is open is treated as done in time. Delhi High Court and ITAT Delhi have applied that rule to EPF and ESI deposits that fell due on a national holiday or a Sunday. EPFO has not published a circular confirming next-day remittance without damages after the five-day grace period was withdrawn in 2016, and the EPFO, ESIC and income-tax portals each have their own cut-off times. For planning, make the last working day before the 7th or the 15th your internal deadline. Do not wait to discover a holiday on the morning of the due date.

Close payroll early enough that on the 7th and the 15th you are only paying. If you are still calculating on those days, late fees follow, and closing earlier prevents most of them.

Month-by-month statutory compliance calendar for FY 2026-27

Financial year (tax year) 2026-27 runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. The table shows what falls due in each calendar month. "Wage month" is the month whose salary the payment relates to.

Copy the rows that apply to you into a shared sheet. Add a column for the person who owns each line and another for the challan or ARN reference once it is filed.

When is PF due every month?

PF is due within fifteen days of the close of every month. Paragraph 28 of the Employees' Provident Funds Scheme requires the employer to remit employee and employer contributions and administrative charges in that window. In practice that means the 15th of the next month, paid through the Electronic Challan-cum-Return (ECR) on the EPFO unified portal.

For wage month October 2026 the sequence is: close October payroll, build and approve the ECR, generate the challan, and pay so the money clears by 15 November 2026. Once that date passes, interest under section 7Q and damages under section 14B of the EPF Act start to run. The damages rate rises with the length of the delay, so it starts costing you well before any notice arrives.

Two 2026 changes to keep on the calendar:

• From 17 September 2026 the PF wage ceiling is ₹25,000 (S.O. 5109(E)). Many establishments had to split September payroll and the ECR across the old and new ceiling. Our PF calculation 2026 post works through the numbers.
• For wage month September 2026 only, EPFO extended ECR filing and remittance to 31 October 2026. No other month moved.

NCP days, joiners and leavers still have to be correct on the ECR. A wrong NCP count rarely shows up straight away; it comes back months later as a member complaint. See NCP days in PF.

When is ESI due every month?

ESI is due within 15 days of the last day of the calendar month in which the contribution falls due. ESIC's contribution page says the employer pays both shares in that window, through the ESIC employer portal. That makes the practical date the 15th of the next month, the same as PF.

The rates have been 0.75% of wages for the employee and 3.25% for the employer since 1 July 2019, and esic.gov.in still listed them on 2 November 2026. Employees whose average daily wage is ₹176 or less do not pay the employee share, but the employer still pays its 3.25%. Contribution periods run April to September and October to March, each with a matching benefit period. Rates and wage ceilings change by notification, so check the ESIC site again when you set up next year's calendar.

The contribution maths and coverage rules are in ESI calculation and contribution rates. For calendar purposes, ESI is paid on the same day as PF.

When must salary TDS be deposited?

For a non-government employer, salary TDS is due by the 7th of the following month, except March, which is due by 30 April. The source is rule 218(2) of the Income-tax Rules, 2026:

• Salary TDS for April to February: within seven days from the end of the month of deduction, which is the 7th of the next month.
• Salary TDS for March: on or before 30 April.

So TDS deducted from October 2026 salary is due by 7 November 2026, and TDS from March 2027 salary is due by 30 April 2027.

Government offices pay on the same day when tax is paid without a challan, and within seven days when a challan is used. Most private employers follow rule 218(2). Where an Assessing Officer has allowed quarterly deposit for specific sections, the quarterly dates in rule 218(4) apply instead. That is rare for ordinary salary TDS, so assume monthly deposit unless you hold written permission.

Depositing the tax and filing the return are two separate obligations. Deposit happens monthly, by the 7th. The quarterly statement is Form 138, covered in the next section. When challans are mapped wrongly in that statement, Form 26AS and the salary certificate stop matching later in the year. Our TDS on salary under the old and new regimes post covers the computation, and the TDS calculator works for a mid-year estimate.

What are the Form 138 due dates (formerly Form 24Q)?

Form 138 is due on 31 July, 31 October, 31 January and 31 May. From tax year 2026-27 it is the quarterly salary TDS statement under section 397(3)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 and rule 219 of the 2026 Rules, replacing Form 24Q. The CBDT transition FAQ (Topic 6, Q6.10) confirms that Q4 of FY 2025-26 (January to March 2026) was still filed as Form 24Q under the 1961 Act by 31 May 2026, even though that date fell after 1 April 2026. Form 138 starts with Q1 of tax year 2026-27. The department's Form 138 FAQ keeps the four due dates employers already use:

For tax year 2026-27 the dates are 31 July 2026 for Q1, 31 October 2026 for Q2, 31 January 2027 for Q3 and 31 May 2027 for Q4. Annexure-I goes with every quarter. Annexure-II, the detailed salary computation that feeds the certificate, goes with Q4 only.

Late filing costs ₹200 for every day the failure continues under section 427. The fee is capped at the tax deductible for that statement and has to be paid before you file the late statement. The Form 138 FAQ also points to penalties under sections 461 and 465(2)(g). You cannot edit a submitted Form 138. Once CPC-TDS has processed the original, any fix goes in a separate correction statement.

The old form has a short definition in the Form 24Q glossary. The next section covers the certificate you can download once Form 138 is processed.

When must Form 130 (Form 16) be issued?

Form 130 is due by 15 June after the end of the tax year, so Form 130 for 2026-27 is due by 15 June 2027. For salary paid in FY 2025-26 the certificate is still Form 16, due by 15 June 2026. From tax year 2026-27, the certificate is Form No. 130 under section 395(4)(b) and rule 215.

TRACES lets you download the certificate only after the year's quarterly statements are filed and processed. For 2026-27 that means all four Form 138 quarters, with Annexure-II in Q4. If you miss 15 June, the penalty under section 465(2)(g) is ₹500 a day for each certificate, capped per certificate at the tax deductible. Late Form 16 drew the same ₹500 daily rate under section 272A(2)(g) of the 1961 Act after the Finance Act, 2022 amendment.

The TRACES steps, Part A and Part B (and Form 130 Parts A, B and C), and a worked penalty example are in Form 16 for employers. The Form 16 glossary has the short definition. Employee declarations that feed the annexure moved from Form 12BB to Form 124; that cycle is covered in Form 12BB is now Form 124.

When is statutory bonus due?

For an April-March accounting year, statutory bonus is due by 30 November. Section 39(1) of the Code on Wages, 2019 requires bonus payable under the Code to be credited to the employee's bank account within eight months from the close of the accounting year, and section 2(a) defines the accounting year as starting on 1 April. For the year that closed on 31 March 2026, eight months runs to 30 November 2026. For the year closing 31 March 2027, the date is 30 November 2027.

The appropriate Government can extend the period if the employer applies, but the total extended period cannot exceed two years. Where a bonus dispute is pending, payment is due within one month of the award or settlement. If the dispute is only about paying more than the minimum, the minimum 8.33% still has to be paid within the eight-month window.

Schedule 30 November as an actual payroll run. Eligibility, the wage base (including the notified floor linked to minimum wages) and the 8.33% to 20% band each need their own working papers. Short definition: bonus glossary.

How do professional tax and LWF fit the calendar?

Professional tax and labour welfare fund are state laws, so they have no national due date. Due dates, slabs, who pays, and whether payment is monthly or half-yearly all vary by state. Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal and Odisha each set their own. A single "PT by the 15th" line on a national calendar is how multi-state payrolls end up paying fines.

Start from these hubs and open the state page for each work location:

• Professional tax by state (for example, Maharashtra PT)
• Labour welfare fund by state (for example, Maharashtra LWF)

On your internal calendar, add a row for each state you operate in, with that state's due day and the person who pays it. When you open a new location, add those two rows before its first payroll runs.

What changed on the 2026-27 calendar?

Three changes sit behind this year's dates. Teams that miss them file on time but use the wrong form.

• Income-tax Act, 2025 and Rules, 2026 from 1 April 2026. Form 24Q becomes Form 138. Form 16 becomes Form 130 for salary from tax year 2026-27. Form 12BB becomes Form 124. Deposit and quarterly filing dates stayed the same; the form numbers and section numbers changed.
• Four labour codes from 21 November 2025. Bonus timing now comes from section 39 of the Code on Wages. The new wage definition changes the base for PF, gratuity and bonus. Where the Code leaves detail to the appropriate Government, check the state rules too.
• PF wage ceiling of ₹25,000 from 17 September 2026 under S.O. 5109(E), with a one-time EPFO extension of the September 2026 ECR and remittance to 31 October 2026. Every other month stays on the 15th.

If your shared calendar still lists Form 24Q and Form 16 against 2026-27 salary, rename those rows now. Employees will still ask for "Form 16" in 2027. You will be issuing Form 130, and it helps to tell them about the new name in advance.

Statutory compliance calendar questions

What is the PF due date every month?

Within fifteen days of the close of the wage month, which for a normal month is the 15th of the following month, paid via ECR on the EPFO portal. Wage month September 2026 alone was extended to 31 October 2026.

What is the ESI contribution due date?

Within 15 days of the last day of the calendar month in which the contribution falls due, according to ESIC. In practice that is the 15th of the next month, the same day as PF.

Is TDS on salary due on the 7th or with the quarterly return?

Both, for different things. Under rule 218 you deposit the tax monthly, by the 7th of the next month (30 April for March). You file the quarterly statement, Form 138, by 31 July, 31 October, 31 January and 31 May. Paying on time does not count as filing, and filing does not count as paying.

What replaced Form 24Q in 2026-27?

Form No. 138, with the same quarterly due dates. Annexure-II goes with Q4 only. The late fee under section 427 is ₹200 a day, capped at the tax deductible.

When is Form 16 / Form 130 due?

By 15 June after the year in which the salary was paid: Form 16 for FY 2025-26 by 15 June 2026, and Form 130 for tax year 2026-27 by 15 June 2027.

When must statutory bonus be paid for an April-March year?

By 30 November, eight months after 31 March, credited to the employee's bank account under section 39 of the Code on Wages. A government extension order can give more time.

Do weekends or holidays move PF, ESI or TDS due dates?

No. Do not plan around a weekend or holiday moving the date for you. The statutes write calendar days. Section 10 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 can treat a payment made on the next open day as in time when the last day falls on a closed day, and Delhi High Court and ITAT Delhi have applied that to EPF and ESI. EPFO has not confirmed that next-day remittance attracts no damages, and bank or portal cut-offs can still leave you late. Make the last working day before the due date your internal deadline.

Where do I put professional tax on a national calendar?

Nowhere, because it has no national date. Add state-specific rows from the PT and LWF pages for each work location.

How do you run this calendar without missing a date?

A wall calendar stops working the first time its owner is on leave on the 14th. Use a shared sheet or system reminders, with an owner's name against every line. Close payroll at least three working days before the 7th so generating the TDS challan is routine. Close attendance and leave early enough that on the 15th you only upload the files and pay.

• Copy the month-by-month table into your team sheet, delete the rows that do not apply, and add PT and LWF rows for each state.
• Name an owner and a backup for TDS deposit, PF/ESI, Form 138, Form 130 and bonus.
• Set reminders on the 1st and the 5th for TDS, and on the 8th and the 12th for PF/ESI.
• Record challan numbers, TRRNs, ESIC payment references and Form 138 ARNs in the same sheet.
• After each quarter, check a sample of PANs against Form 26AS before certificate season comes round.

A calendar is only part of the fix. If challans, ECRs and the salary annexure sit in three different folders, June will still be hard. Engage payroll calculates salary, PF, ESI and TDS in one run, so on the 7th and the 15th you are checking figures that already exist instead of rebuilding them. See Engage pricing for plans. Use this date sheet alongside the payroll compliance checklist for the tasks behind each date.

Related reading: PF calculation 2026, Form 16 for employers, Form 12BB and Form 124, and TDS on salary under the old and new regimes.

Sources

• Rule 218, Income-tax Rules, 2026, Income Tax Department. Monthly TDS deposit within seven days from month-end; March by 30 April for non-government deductors.
• Form No. 138 Frequently Asked Questions, Income Tax Department. Quarterly due dates 31 Jul / 31 Oct / 31 Jan / 31 May; Annexure-II in Q4; late fee under section 427.
• Department note on Form 24Q / Form 138, Income Tax Department (8 March 2026). Mapping of Form 24Q to Form 138, rule 219, section 397(3)(b).
• Form No. 130 Frequently Asked Questions, Income Tax Department. Form 130 replaces Form 16; due date 15 June; download from TRACES mandatory.
• Section 427, Income-tax Act, 2025 (text as published in annotated copies of the Act): fee of ₹200 per day for failure to deliver a statement under section 397(3)(b), capped at the tax deductible, payable before filing.
• ESIC Contribution. Pay within 15 days of the last day of the calendar month; rates 0.75% / 3.25%; daily wage exemption ₹176.
• Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, paragraph 28 (payment of contributions): remit within fifteen days of the close of every month. EPFO circular extending the September 2026 ECR and remittance to 31 October 2026 (wage month September 2026 only). S.O. 5109(E): PF wage ceiling ₹25,000 from 17 September 2026.
• Section 39, Code on Wages, 2019. Bonus to be credited within eight months of the close of the accounting year. Section 2(a): accounting year starts on 1 April.
• hrengage.ai professional tax hub and LWF hub for state-wise dates.
• FAQs on Interplay and Transition from the Income Tax Act, 1961 to the Income Tax Act, 2025, CBDT / Directorate of Income Tax (O&MS). Topic 6, Q6.10: Q4 of FY 2025-26 (Jan-Mar 2026) filed as Form 24Q/26Q/27Q/27EQ under the 1961 Act by 31 May 2026; Form 138 from Q1 of tax year 2026-27. Q6.15: Form 16 for FY 2025-26 by 15 June 2026.
• Section 10, General Clauses Act, 1897 (Computation of time): if the last day of a prescribed period falls when the court or office is closed, an act done on the next day the office is open is treated as done in time. Applied to EPF/ESI deposits in Pr. CIT v. Pepsico India Holding Pvt. Ltd. (Delhi High Court, 2023) and G.D. Foods (ITAT Delhi, 2023).