Reference
Compliance calendar for Indian businesses
The dates a business runs against through the year, grouped by how often each one comes round. Extensions are notified from time to time and they move these dates, so treat this as the map and not the territory.
Before you use this
How to read this
- Dates, not amounts
- There are no rates, slabs or thresholds anywhere on this page, deliberately. Those change with every Finance Act and a figure published on a website ages badly. Dates are stabler, and the ones that move are marked.
- The statutory date, not the extended one
- Every date here is the one in the governing provision. Extensions are notified case by case and are not reflected until they are. We confirm the operative date against the current notification before every filing.
- Applicability is not universal
- A due date only matters if the obligation applies to you. Turnover, entity type, registration status and scheme election all decide that, and the right hand column says who each row is for.
Compliance calendar
What falls due, and on whom
Statutory due dates as they stand in the governing provision. Extensions are notified from time to time and they move these dates. We confirm the operative date against the current notification before every filing, and we would rather you asked us than worked from this table.
Monthly09
- TDS and TCS deposit7th of the following monthAll deductors and collectors, with a different date for the March deduction
- GSTR-1, monthly11th of the following monthRegular taxpayers not on the quarterly scheme
- GSTR-3B, monthly20th of the following monthRegular taxpayers not on the quarterly scheme
- GSTR-5 and GSTR-5A13th and 20th of the following monthNon-resident taxable persons and OIDAR suppliers
- GSTR-613th of the following monthInput service distributors
- GSTR-7 and GSTR-810th of the following monthGST deductors and e-commerce operators collecting tax
- Provident fund contribution and ECR15th of the following monthEmployers covered by the EPF Act
- ESI contribution15th of the following monthEmployers covered by the ESI Act
- Professional tax, MaharashtraMonthly or annual, by the liability slabRegistered employers and enrolled persons
Quarterly07
- Quarterly TDS return, Forms 24Q and 26Q31 Jul · 31 Oct · 31 Jan · 31 MayAll deductors
- Quarterly TCS return, Form 27EQ15 Jul · 15 Oct · 15 Jan · 15 MayAll collectors
- Form 16A to deducteesWithin 15 days of the quarterly return dateAll deductors other than on salary
- GSTR-1, quarterly under QRMP13th of the month following the quarterTaxpayers who opted into the quarterly scheme
- GSTR-3B, quarterly under QRMP22nd or 24th of the month following the quarter, by stateTaxpayers who opted into the quarterly scheme
- CMP-0818th of the month following the quarterComposition taxpayers
- Advance tax instalments15 Jun · 15 Sep · 15 Dec · 15 MarWhere the liability crosses the statutory floor
Half-yearly02
- ITC-04, job workHalf-yearly or annual by turnoverPrincipals sending goods to job workers
- Form MSME-130 April · 31 OctoberCompanies with dues to micro and small enterprises beyond the limit
Annual20
- Form 16 to employees15 JuneEvery employer who deducted tax on salary
- GSTR-4, annual30 JuneComposition taxpayers
- GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C31 DecemberTaxpayers above the notified turnover thresholds
- Letter of undertaking for exportsBefore the start of the financial yearExporters supplying without payment of tax
- Income tax return, non-audit31 JulyIndividuals and HUFs not subject to audit
- Tax audit report, Section 44AB30 SeptemberAssessees crossing the audit threshold
- Form 10B or 10BB, trust audit30 SeptemberTrusts and institutions claiming exemption
- Income tax return, audit cases31 OctoberCompanies and assessees subject to audit
- Form 3CEB, transfer pricing report31 OctoberInternational and specified domestic transactions
- Income tax return, transfer pricing30 NovemberAssessees filing Form 3CEB
- Belated and revised return31 DecemberAll assessees, subject to the current provision
- Form 61A, statement of financial transactions31 MayReporting entities under Rule 114E
- Annual general meeting30 SeptemberAll companies, with a longer window in the first year
- Form AOC-4Within 30 days of the AGMAll companies
- Form MGT-7 and MGT-7AWithin 60 days of the AGMAll companies
- DIR-3 KYC30 SeptemberEvery director holding a DIN
- Form DPT-330 JuneCompanies with outstanding money not treated as deposits
- LLP Form 1130 MayAll LLPs
- LLP Form 830 OctoberAll LLPs
- FLA return15 JulyEntities holding foreign direct or overseas investment
Event06
- Form 26QB, TDS on propertyWithin 30 days of the end of the month of deductionBuyers of immovable property above the notified value
- Form 26QC, TDS on rentWithin 30 days of the end of the month of deductionIndividuals and HUFs paying rent above the notified limit
- Form ADT-1, auditor appointmentWithin 15 days of the AGMAll companies
- Charge forms, CHG-1 and CHG-4Within 30 days of creation, modification or satisfactionCompanies creating or clearing a charge
- Form FC-GPRWithin 30 days of allotmentCompanies issuing shares to a non-resident
- Form 15CA and 15CBBefore the remittance is madeAnyone remitting funds outside India
Showing 44 of 44 obligations
By category
What each of these actually involves
A due date on its own tells you when, not what. This is the shape of each obligation and the part of it that most often goes wrong.
- Income Tax
- Advance tax through the year, then the audit and return cycle from September to November, then the belated and revised window. The date that catches people is advance tax: it is four instalments, not a year end payment, and the interest for missing them accrues quietly.
- GST
- The monthly or quarterly return pair, depending on whether you elected the quarterly scheme, plus the annual return and reconciliation. The reconciliation between your books, your e-invoice data and the auto-populated return is where the department looks first.
- TDS and TCS
- Deposit monthly, return quarterly, certificate after that. It is one chain, and a break anywhere in it turns into a disallowance at one end and an interest demand at the other. The March deduction has its own deposit date.
- ROC
- Most company filings hang off the date of the annual general meeting rather than a fixed calendar date, so moving the AGM moves AOC-4 and MGT-7 with it. Director KYC and the event driven forms do not wait for the AGM.
- Payroll
- Provident fund, employee state insurance and professional tax, monthly and largely state specific. These are the filings most often left to run on autopilot and most often found wrong during due diligence.
- FEMA
- Annual reporting on foreign holdings, plus event driven filings when shares are issued to a non-resident or funds are remitted abroad. The remittance certification has to exist before the money moves, not after.