Compliance Calendar for Private Limited Companies in India

Running a private limited company in India means more than filing one annual return and moving on. There are deadlines scattered across the year from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the Income Tax Department, the GST Network, and the TDS system, and most of them come with a daily penalty if you miss them. Once you get used to the rhythm it isn't complicated, but it does need to live somewhere other than your memory.

This guide puts every recurring deadline for a private limited company in one place, grouped by the authority it goes to, along with the one big change every founder should know about this year: the arrival of the new Income Tax Act.

A Quick Heads Up: The Income Tax Act 2025 Has Changed the Terminology

The Income Tax Act, 2025 came into force on 1 April 2026 and replaces the old Income Tax Act, 1961. One of the biggest changes is how the tax year itself is described. The old system used two labels, Previous Year for when income was earned and Assessment Year for when it was taxed, which is why income earned in 2024-25 was taxed under Assessment Year 2025-26. That confusing split is gone. From 1 April 2026 onward, both are simply called the Tax Year.

Here's the part that trips people up. If you're filing your return in 2026 for income earned in FY 2025-26, that income falls before the cutover, so you're still working under the old Act and still using the Assessment Year 2026-27 label. It's only income earned from 1 April 2026 onward, referred to as Tax Year 2026-27, that follows the new Act and the new terminology. So for the rest of this calendar, wherever you see a due date tied to income earned up to 31 March 2026, expect Assessment Year language on your forms and challans. From April 2026 onward, expect Tax Year language instead.

ROC and MCA Compliance Calendar

These are the filings that go to the Registrar of Companies and keep your company's legal status active. Most of them are annual, and a few are triggered by a specific event rather than a fixed date.

The AOC-4 and MGT-7 dates above assume a 30 September AGM, which is the standard deadline for most private companies. If your company holds its AGM earlier, both filings move earlier too, since they're counted from the AGM date, not a fixed calendar date.

Penalty: AOC-4 and MGT-7 both attract a late fee of ₹100 per day with no upper limit. Missing DIR-3 KYC deactivates the director's DIN, and reactivating it costs a flat ₹5,000 per director. If a company skips its annual return or financial statements for three years in a row, its directors can be disqualified.

Income Tax Compliance Calendar

Income tax obligations for a company run all year through advance tax instalments, then wrap up with the audit and return filing after the financial year closes.

Advance tax is cumulative, not four equal slices. By 15 September you should have paid 45 percent of your estimated yearly tax, not just the second quarter's share, and by 15 December it should be 75 percent. Falling short at any stage brings interest under the Income Tax Act, so it's worth revisiting your estimate each quarter rather than setting it once in April and forgetting about it.

GST Compliance Calendar

If your company is registered under GST, here's what the filing rhythm looks like. Companies with turnover above ₹5 crore generally file monthly, while smaller companies can opt into the QRMP scheme and file quarterly, though the tax itself is still paid monthly under QRMP.

Companies above the prescribed turnover threshold also need a reconciliation statement, GSTR-9C, alongside the annual return. It's worth starting your GST reconciliation in October rather than waiting until the December deadline is close, since matching a full year of invoices takes longer than it looks on paper.

TDS Compliance Calendar

If your company deducts tax at source on salaries, contractor payments, professional fees, or rent, these deadlines apply.

Late TDS returns attract a fee under Section 234E, and late deposit of the TDS itself brings interest on top of that. Both are calculated per day, so a delay that feels small at first can add up quickly.

Other Recurring Compliances Worth Tracking

• PF and ESI contributions. Due by the 15th of the following month if your company has employees covered under these schemes.

• Professional tax. Applicable in several states, with due dates set by the state government rather than the centre.

• Board meetings. Companies Act rules require a minimum number of board meetings each year, with gaps between them capped at 120 days.

• Statutory audit. Every private limited company needs its books audited each year, regardless of turnover, and this audit has to be completed before AOC-4 can be filed.

Why a Missed Date Costs More Than It Looks Like

The individual penalties above don't look dramatic on their own. ₹100 a day for a late ROC form seems manageable until you realise it has no upper cap, and a filing that's six months late can quietly run past ₹18,000 on a single form. Add a few more delayed filings across GST, TDS, and ROC in the same year, and the total stops being a rounding error. The bigger risk usually isn't the fee itself, it's what a pattern of missed filings signals: banks get cautious about lending, investors ask harder questions during due diligence, and directors of chronically non-compliant companies can be barred from holding a directorship in any company for a period of time.

How CorpE Keeps You Ahead of These Dates

Most founders don't miss a deadline because they don't care. They miss it because it was sitting in a spreadsheet nobody opened that week, or a WhatsApp message from a consultant that got buried. CorpE's Compliance Calendar puts every ROC, GST, TDS, and income tax deadline relevant to your company in one dashboard, with reminders before each one, so you're acting on a due date instead of discovering it after it's passed.

• One calendar covering ROC, GST, TDS, and income tax deadlines specific to your company

• Reminders ahead of each due date, not on the day itself

• CA and CS backed filing support for AOC-4, MGT-7, DIR-3 KYC, and the rest

• A document vault so the paperwork for each filing doesn't have to be hunted down every time

Take a look at CorpE's Compliance Calendar and see your company's actual due dates instead of a generic list.