5 April 2026: Aditi receives her Certificate of Incorporation. She has 3 employees, a co-founder, an angel investor, and ₹40 lakh in the bank. Her first thought: "I have a company now, can I get back to building product?".
11 April: An automated email from the GST portal — "GSTR-1 for March 2026 is due tomorrow." She just got the GSTIN; how can March be due? Turns out it's pre-incorporation March GST liability from her earlier prop business, but it shows up under her brand new GSTIN by error.
20 April: Another email — GSTR-3B due. 30 April: PF return due. 7 May: TDS deposit due (for the staff she's been paying for two weeks). 15 May: PF + ESI second cycle. 31 May: TDS Q4 return.
By July, Aditi has 14 different compliance dates in her calendar and is still building product. Here's the full year-1 map, so the next founder doesn't get blindsided.
- A new Pvt Ltd has ~50 compliance events in year 1 — most are recurring (GST, TDS, PF/ESI), the rest are one-time or annual (ROC AOC-4 / MGT-7, AGM, DIR-3 KYC, statutory audit).
- The big monthly clusters: 11th (GSTR-1 outward supplies), 15th (PF + ESI returns), 20th (GSTR-3B summary + tax payment), 7th of next month (TDS deposit).
- Quarterly: TDS returns by 31st of month following the quarter; advance tax by 15 Jun / 15 Sep / 15 Dec / 15 Mar.
- Annual: Statutory audit mandatory regardless of size; AGM within 6 months of FY end (so 30 Sep for Mar FYs); ROC AOC-4 by 30 Oct; MGT-7 by 29 Nov; DIR-3 KYC by 30 Sep; DPT-3 by 30 Jun; ITR-6 by 31 Oct (if tax audit applicable, else 31 Jul).
- The cost of late filings — GST late fee ₹50/day per Act, ROC penalty ₹100/day, TDS interest 1.5%/month. Year-1 mistakes add up to ₹50k-₹2L if compliance isn't set up cleanly from day 1.
Monthly recurring (every month)
7th of every month
TDS deposit
Deposit TDS deducted in the previous month via Challan ITNS-281. All sections (192 salary, 194J professional, 194I rent, etc.) due same date. Late = 1.5% per month interest + Sec 271C penalty.
11th of every month
GSTR-1
Outward supplies for the previous month. QRMP filers do it quarterly (April-Jun, Jul-Sep, etc.) by the 13th of month following the quarter. Late fee: ₹50/day (₹25 CGST + ₹25 SGST) per Act, max ₹5,000 each.
15th of every month
PF + ESI
PF (Provident Fund) ECR + payment by 15th. ESI (Employees' State Insurance) — same date. Mandatory for any Pvt Ltd with ≥10 employees (PF) or ≥10 employees with salary ≤ ₹21k (ESI). Voluntary for smaller.
20th of every month
GSTR-3B + payment
Monthly summary return + tax payment. QRMP filers: 22nd or 24th depending on state. Late fee ₹50/day per Act + 18% interest on unpaid tax. This is the most-missed return for new companies.
Quarterly
Advance tax
15th of Jun/Sep/Dec/Mar
15% / 45% / 75% / 100% of estimated annual tax. Use the Advance Tax calculator. Late = Sec 234C interest 1% × 3 months × shortfall per quarter.
TDS returns 24Q / 26Q
31st of month after quarter
24Q = salary TDS. 26Q = non-salary TDS. Q1 by 31 Jul, Q2 by 31 Oct, Q3 by 31 Jan, Q4 by 31 May. Issue Form 16 / 16A within 15 days of return filing.
Annual — fixed dates regardless of incorporation date
Every Pvt Ltd files, even if no deposits (Nil return). Captures loans from directors, related parties, shareholders. Penalty for missing: ₹5,000 + ₹500/day continuing default.
AGM must be held within 6 months of FY end. AGM date triggers downstream filings. Every director with DIN must file DIR-3 KYC by 30 Sep — fail and DIN gets deactivated. ₹5,000 penalty to reactivate.
Within 30 days of AGM. Statutory auditor's signed Balance Sheet, P&L, cash flow, notes. Required even if zero revenue. ₹100/day penalty for delay — accumulates fast.
If turnover > ₹1cr business / ₹50L profession → tax audit applies, Form 3CD must be uploaded first. Sec 234A interest 1%/month if late. Belated return: Sec 139(4) by 31 Dec.
Within 60 days of AGM. Shareholding pattern, board composition, indebtedness. For small companies and OPCs: simplified MGT-7A.
Half-yearly return of outstanding payments to MSME vendors beyond 45 days. Applies only if you have MSME vendors with overdue payments. Many startups miss this.
One-time, year-1 only
- Within 30 days of incorporation — INC-22 (registered office address proof) if not filed with SPICe+. Get rubber stamp, signage at office.
- Within 60 days of incorporation — first board meeting. Appoint statutory auditor for first FY (the auditor holds office till conclusion of first AGM).
- 180 days from incorporation — Form INC-20A (Declaration of Commencement of Business). Confirms subscribers have paid for their shares. Without this, company can't borrow / start operations legally.
- Within 9 months of FY end (so 31 Dec for Mar FYs) — first AGM. After year 1, AGMs must be within 6 months.
Aditi's actual April-month calendar
- 5 Apr: Incorporation Certificate received. CIN issued.
- 7 Apr: TDS deposit deadline — but no employees paid yet in April, nil.
- 11 Apr: GSTR-1 nil (no outward supplies yet).
- 15 Apr: PF / ESI nil (no employees on payroll yet).
- 20 Apr: GSTR-3B nil.
- 30 Apr: MSME-1 nil. Apply for PAN/TAN if not auto-allotted via SPICe+ (usually auto in 2025+).
By May the first employees are on payroll, the first invoice is raised, and the calendar starts to fill in for real.
The penalty stack — why missing dates hurts
GST late
Per day
GSTR-3B late: ₹50/day per Act (CGST + SGST), max ₹5,000 each. GSTR-9 annual late: 0.25% of turnover per day, max 0.5%. Plus 18% interest on unpaid tax.
ROC late
Per day
AOC-4 / MGT-7 late: ₹100 per day per form. No upper cap. 365 days late = ₹36,500 per form. Plus director liability for "officer in default".
TDS late
Interest + penalty
Deposit late: 1.5% per month from deduction date to deposit date. Return late: ₹200/day under Sec 234E + ₹10,000-₹1L penalty under Sec 271H. Plus risk of disallowance under Sec 40(a)(ia).
What an actually-organised compliance setup looks like
- One spreadsheet per company with every recurring date and responsibility. Update weekly.
- Two-step calendar reminders — Google Calendar alerts 7 days and 1 day before each date. Aditi-the-founder + Aditi's accountant both get the same alerts.
- A single "compliance partner" (in-house or outsourced) responsible for all monthly + annual filings. One person owns the calendar.
- Auto-payments where possible — TDS via internet banking instructed to debit on the 6th of every month from a dedicated tax-payment account.
- Annual MSA with statutory auditor by April — most firms have year-end capacity issues if you onboard them in September.
- Quarterly compliance review meeting between founder, CFO, and compliance — review filings, plan upcoming, flag risks. 30 minutes per quarter.
Most founder-led startups miss MSME-1, DPT-3, INC-20A, and DIR-3 KYC in year 1 because they sound like "not relevant to us". They are. They apply to every Pvt Ltd. The cumulative penalty for missing all four in year 1 ranges ₹15k-₹40k once you cure them — a tax on inattention, not on activity.
The funny historical wrinkle
The Indian Companies Act 2013 added significant compliance overhead compared to the 1956 version it replaced — board meeting minimums, CSR (if applicable), Section 135, IND-AS for some companies. The MCA's V3 portal (launched 2022-23) made filings electronic but also more rigorous. The frequency of "officer in default" notices to first-time founders increased 3-4× from 2019 to 2024 as the system matured and started auto-flagging missed dates.
For a typical bootstrapped Pvt Ltd, year-1 compliance can absorb 25-40 hours of founder time if done in-house, or ₹40k-₹1L outsourced. Most startups outsource — it's the lowest-leverage time a founder can spend.
Quick answers
Your first FY runs from incorporation date to 31 March (so Nov-Mar). First AGM within 9 months of FY end — so by 31 Dec next year. AOC-4 within 30 days of AGM. So the standard 31 Oct deadline applies from year 2 onwards.
Yes. Every Pvt Ltd needs statutory audit regardless of size, revenue, or activity. Even a nil-revenue dormant company files audited financials annually. The auditor charges much less for a dormant filing (₹15-25k typical) but it's not optional.
Yes — file a "Nil" DPT-3 every year by 30 June. Every company must file, even if no deposits and no loans from related parties. Penalty for missing nil DPT-3: ₹5,000 + ₹500/day.
Possible but not advisable. For a Pvt Ltd that's also building product / serving customers, founder time on compliance is the worst ROI activity. Outsourcing to a CA + CS pair from day 1 is the most common pattern. Total cost typically ₹4k-₹15k/month depending on volume.
For ROC: file the missed form with additional fees (₹100/day stacked). For GST: file with late fees. For TDS: deposit with interest. None of these become criminal until very late (multiple years), but they create a permanent compliance record. Fix promptly.
When you might want help
Practically every new Pvt Ltd. Year-1 compliance is not the founder's job. A retainer with a CA + CS firm typically covers everything monthly (₹6-12k/mo) + annual (₹40-60k for AOC-4 + MGT-7 + ITR + statutory audit coordination).
Just incorporated?
End-to-end year-1 compliance — monthly GST + TDS + PF/ESI + quarterly TDS returns + annual AOC-4 / MGT-7 / ITR + statutory audit coordination. One fixed monthly fee.
"Aditi" is a composite illustration. Your specific calendar depends on incorporation date, payroll size, revenue mix, and applicable schemes.