Most compliance failures are not decisions. They are calendar failures — nobody owned the date. The Registrar of Companies does not send reminders, and the additional fee for a late filing runs per day from the due date, which is why a forgotten form becomes an expensive one so quickly.
The recurring annual filings
| Form | What it is | Broad timing |
|---|---|---|
| AOC-4 | Financial statements filed with the ROC | Within 30 days of the AGM |
| MGT-7 / MGT-7A | Annual return of the company | Within 60 days of the AGM |
| ADT-1 | Intimation of auditor appointment | Within 15 days of the AGM |
| DIR-3 KYC | Annual KYC of every DIN holder | By 30th September |
| DPT-3 | Return of deposits and exempted receipts | By 30th June |
| MSME-1 | Half-yearly return of dues to micro and small suppliers | By 30th April and 31st October |
| Form 11 (LLP) | LLP annual return | By 30th May |
| Form 8 (LLP) | LLP statement of account and solvency | By 30th October |
The events that trigger a filing
These are not annual. They are due within days of something happening, and they are the ones most often missed because nobody connects the business event to a filing obligation.
- Appointment or resignation of a director — DIR-12.
- Allotment of shares — PAS-3, and FC-GPR as well if the investor is non-resident.
- Change of registered office — INC-22 and the related forms.
- Creation, modification or satisfaction of a charge — CHG-1 or CHG-4.
- Change of company name or objects — the relevant approval and filing.
- Any special resolution passed — MGT-14.
What it costs to be late
The additional fee for late ROC filing is a multiple of the normal fee and increases with the length of delay. For annual filings it accrues per day. Beyond money, the consequences compound: directors can be disqualified where annual filings are missed for a continuous stretch, the company can be struck off, and a struck-off company has to be restored through the tribunal before it can do anything at all.
The practical damage usually shows up somewhere else entirely — a bank refusing a facility, an investor's diligence report listing every missed filing, or a buyer discounting the valuation because the entity is not clean.
How to actually stay on top of it
- 01Fix your AGM date early. Most annual deadlines hang off it, so a late AGM cascades into late AOC-4 and MGT-7.
- 02Keep every director's DSC valid and their DIN KYC current. An expired DSC on the day of a deadline is a self-inflicted late fee.
- 03Maintain the statutory registers through the year rather than reconstructing them in September.
- 04Put every recurring date in a shared calendar with an owner's name against it, not just a reminder.
- 05Review pending filings before any funding round, loan application or sale — not during one.