What this tool does
There are two calendars in every payroll month and they are constantly confused. One is yours: attendance lock, payroll run, bank file, salary credit. The other is fixed by law and does not move when you move your pay day, with TDS by the 7th, EPF and ESI by the 15th, and professional tax on your own state's date. This builds both on one page, in order, and shows where they collide.
How it works
The internal sequence is attendance cut-off, then the payroll run, then the bank file upload the next morning, then salary credit. A day that does not exist in the month you chose is clamped to the last day and the tool says so, rather than rolling forward into the next month, which would be worse than being a day early. It also flags the two orderings that break payrolls: a run dated before the cut-off, and a pay day dated before the run.
The statutory dates sit on their own fixed days and are not yours to move. TDS deducted during a month is deposited and the quarterly return filed by the 7th of the following month. EPF contributions go through the ECR portal by the 15th, and ESI contributions are due by the 15th for the previous contribution period. Professional tax is levied by each state on its own date, usually somewhere between about the 10th and the 21st, with the amount varying by state, so that row is a placeholder and must be checked against your own slab.
Loss-of-pay proration is where a small rule becomes a dispute. The divisor is either 26, or 30, or the actual working days in the month, and the choice is yours to hold consistently: a 26-day divisor one month and a 30-day divisor the next moves every employee's deduction without anyone touching their salary. On a 30,000 rupee salary, two loss-of-pay days is 2,307.69 rupees on a 26-day basis and exactly 2,000 on a 30-day basis, and the divisor used is always shown next to the figure.
Two further rules sit outside the date grid but belong on the same page. Section 18(3) of the Code on Wages, 2019, in force with the Codes from 21 November 2025, caps total deductions at 50% of wages in a wage period, which bites hardest in a full-and-final settlement where a notice-pay recovery exceeds half the final payment and the excess has to be booked as a receivable. And under FR 56 a central government employee retires on the afternoon of the last day of the month in which they turn 60, so a 1st-of-month date of birth retires on the last day of the previous month.
Worked example
September 2026: attendance locked on the 22nd, payroll run on the 25th, salary credited on the 28th, one employee on 30,000 rupees with two loss-of-pay days, and a date of birth of 1 June 1986.
- Internal cycle: attendance cut-off 22 September, payroll run 25 September, bank file 26 September, salary credit 28 September
- Statutory cycle: TDS deposit 7 September, EPF and ESI remittance 15 September, professional tax on your own state's date
- A pay day of the 28th falls after both statutory deadlines, so the remittances are made before that month's salary is credited
- Two loss-of-pay days on a 26-day divisor deduct 30,000 / 26 x 2 = 2,307.69 rupees, against 2,000 rupees on a 30-day divisor
One ordered month with the fixed 7th and 15th dates landing well before the 28th salary credit, and a 307.69 rupee swing in the loss-of-pay figure per month depending only on which divisor you hold.
Accuracy and limitations
- Not legal or tax advice. Remittance deadlines and form names change with the Finance Act and with CBDT notifications, so verify the current ones against the Income-tax Rules and the current notification. The quarterly salary TDS statement and the annual salary TDS certificate are referred to by description here rather than by number.
- Professional tax is state-specific in both slab and due date, and that row is a placeholder rather than a deadline. Check your own state's rule.
- The 50% deduction cap in section 18(3) of the Code on Wages is stated for reference and is not applied by this tool, so a full-and-final settlement above the cap needs its own review.
Frequently asked questions
- When are TDS and EPF due?
- TDS deducted during a month is deposited and the quarterly return filed by the 7th of the following month. EPF contributions are due by the 15th on the ECR portal, and ESI contributions by the 15th for the previous contribution period. Neither date moves because you changed your own pay day.
- Which day should the salary be credited on?
- The 1st to the 7th is the comfortable order, because the month's salary is in the account before the statutory remittances are made. A pay day after the 15th means the 7th and 15th deposits are made against a month whose salary has not been credited, which is a cash-flow problem worth planning for rather than discovering.
- Is the loss-of-pay divisor 26 or 30?
- It is a choice you make and then hold. On a 26-day divisor a 30,000 rupee salary gives 1,153.85 rupees a day, while on a 30-day divisor it is exactly 1,000 rupees. Switching between the two changes every deduction without changing anyone's salary, and that is the classic cause of a payroll dispute.
- What goes wrong in a full-and-final settlement?
- Section 18(3) of the Code on Wages caps total deductions at 50% of wages in a wage period, so a notice-pay recovery larger than half the final payment cannot be deducted in full. The excess is booked as a receivable, and this tool states the cap but does not apply it, so the settlement needs reviewing on its own facts.
- When does someone born on the 1st of the month retire?
- Under FR 56, a central government employee retires on the afternoon of the last day of the month in which they turn 60. A date of birth on the 1st therefore means retirement on the last day of the previous month, a full month before the birthday, and that is the rule most often got wrong.
- Which form do I file for quarterly TDS?
- Check the current Income-tax Rules and the latest CBDT notification for the form in force. The numbers for the quarterly salary TDS statement and the annual salary TDS certificate have been reported as changing, and this tool deliberately refers to them by description rather than quoting a number it cannot trace to a primary rule.