Compliance Calendar

Compliance Calendar: FY 2026-27 Deadlines, Penalties and Worked Examples for Indian Businesses

For FY 2026-27 (April 2026 – March 2027), an Indian business faces over 40 recurring compliance deadlines across the Income-tax portal, GST portal, MCA V3 portal, EPFO, and ESIC — with AIS/TIS cross-checks making omissions more visible to the tax department than ever before. Missing a single due date can trigger automated late fees, block downstream filings, and create reconciliation gaps that compound into your statutory audit. This guide gives you exact dates, penalty arithmetic, and a repeatable monthly operating rhythm to stay clean.

Why a Static "Annual List" Is Not Enough

Most finance teams maintain some version of a compliance checklist. The problem is that a list without owners, evidence trails, and escalation triggers is noise. By FY 2026-27, with MCA V3 running straight-through processing (STP) for most company filings and the GST portal auto-populating GSTR-2B from supplier data, a missed filing does not just attract a late fee — it cascades.

A late GSTR-1 means your buyers cannot claim Input Tax Credit (ITC) on their purchases from you for that month, creating immediate commercial friction. A missed DIR-3 KYC de-activates the Director Identification Number (DIN), blocking every MCA form that requires a director's digital signature. A TDS return filed 70 days late generates a mandatory Section 234E penalty that is larger than many small companies' full-year accounting fees.

The goal of this calendar is to convert a passive list into an operating system — due dates mapped to owners, with evidence checkpoints and a monthly review meeting that takes no more than 30 minutes.

How to Operate This Calendar

Before you read the deadlines below, build the scaffolding that makes the calendar real:

1. Assign one Owner and one Reviewer per compliance line. The owner files; the reviewer confirms the acknowledgement is saved. Never allow the same person to perform both roles.
2. Set three reminders per deadline — T-5 days (gather data), T-2 days (draft ready for review), T-0 (file and archive the acknowledgement).
3. Maintain a single evidence folder with sub-folders by month. Every challan, return, and acknowledgement reference number (ARN) lives here. When a GST officer or your statutory auditor asks for proof of timely filing, you share a link — not your inbox search results.
4. Run a monthly reconciliation comparing your books with AIS/TIS on the Income-tax portal, Form 26AS, GSTR-2B on the GST portal, and your bank statement. Mismatches caught in-month cost minutes to resolve. The same mismatches discovered at year-end during tax audit cost days.
5. Hold a 30-minute monthly compliance stand-up with Finance, HR, Legal, and Operations. Review the previous month's filings, flag the next month's heavy deadlines, and clear any pending items.

Direct Tax Deadlines: Month by Month

TDS Payment and Return Filing

Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) obligations recur every month and every quarter under Chapter XVII-B and Chapter XVII-BB of the Income-tax Act 1961.

Monthly TDS payment (Challan ITNS 281 on the TIN 2.0 / Protean portal):

The March exception is the single most common TDS penalty trigger in practice. Deducting TDS on March salaries and paying it on 8 April 2027 triggers interest under Section 201(1A) — 1% per month from the date of deduction to the date of payment — on every rupee deducted late.

Tax Collected at Source (TCS) under Section 206C follows the same 7th-of-month payment rhythm.

Quarterly TDS return due dates for FY 2026-27:

• Form 24Q: TDS on salary payments (Section 192)
• Form 26Q: TDS on all other domestic payments
• Form 27Q: TDS on payments to non-residents (other than salary)

Late filing attracts a mandatory fee of Rs. 200 per day per form under Section 234E, subject to a ceiling of the total TDS amount in that return. This is not discretionary — the TRACES portal computes it automatically and the system will not accept the return without payment of the late fee.

TDS certificate issuance deadlines:

• Form 16 (salary, u/s 192): By 15 June 2027 for FY 2026-27
• Form 16A (non-salary): Within 15 days of the due date of the respective quarterly return
• Form 16B (immovable property, u/s 194-IA): Within 15 days of furnishing Form 26QB

Equalisation Levy (Finance Act 2016): Challan in Form 1 is due by the 7th of the following month for services chargeable under the levy.

Advance Tax Instalments for FY 2026-27

Advance tax applies to any taxpayer — individual, firm, LLP, or company — whose estimated tax liability for the year exceeds Rs. 10,000 after TDS credit. Payments are made via Challan ITNS 280.

Shortfalls attract:

• Section 234C interest: 1% per month (simple) on the deficient amount for the relevant instalment period
• Section 234B interest: 1% per month on the shortfall between actual tax paid and 90% of the assessed tax

Annual Income-Tax Milestones for AY 2027-28

These dates apply to income earned during FY 2026-27:

CBDT has historically extended several of these dates via circulars. Always verify the operative circular on incometax.gov.in in the fortnight before each deadline rather than relying on last year's extended date.

GST Compliance: Monthly and Quarterly Rhythm

Monthly Filers (Aggregate Turnover > Rs. 5 Crore in Previous FY)

Late fee for GSTR-3B: Rs. 50 per day (Rs. 25 CGST + Rs. 25 SGST) for returns with tax liability; Rs. 20 per day for nil returns. An upper cap applies per return as notified — verify the applicable ceiling for your turnover slab on the GSTN portal before computing exposure.

GST interest on delayed tax payment (Section 50, CGST Act 2017): 18% per annum on outstanding tax from the due date to the actual date of payment. Where ITC is wrongly availed and utilised, the rate is 24% per annum.

E-way bill: Required for every movement of goods valued above Rs. 50,000 inter-State, or above the State-notified threshold for intra-State movement. This is a transaction-level obligation, not a monthly return, but it must be reflected in your GSTR-1 data.

QRMP Scheme Filers (Turnover ≤ Rs. 5 Crore in Previous FY)

The Quarterly Return Monthly Payment (QRMP) scheme changes your return-filing frequency but not your payment frequency. This distinction causes more compliance failures than any other QRMP misunderstanding.

• GSTR-1: Filed quarterly — by the 13th of the month following the quarter (e.g., 13 July 2026 for Q1 Apr–Jun 2026)
• Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF): Optional monthly upload for months 1 and 2 of each quarter, due by the 13th of the following month
• PMT-06 challan: Monthly tax payment due by the 25th of each month during the quarter
• GSTR-3B (quarterly): Staggered by State of registration:
• 22nd — Category 1 States (generally northern and central States)
• 24th — Category 2 States (generally southern and north-eastern States)

The PMT-06 obligation trips up QRMP registrants repeatedly. The scheme is "quarterly return, monthly payment" — not "quarterly everything." Skipping PMT-06 for three months and then filing a quarterly GSTR-3B results in three months of 18% interest on deferred tax.

Annual GST Obligations

GSTR-9C is currently mandatory where aggregate turnover exceeds Rs. 5 crore. Verify the applicable threshold in the GSTN circular for FY 2026-27 before concluding you are exempt.

MCA / Companies Act and LLP Obligations

Annual Deadlines for Companies (March FY Year-End)

For a March year-end company, the AGM must be held by 30 September each year. This means AOC-4 for FY 2025-26 is typically due by 29 October 2026 and MGT-7 by 29 November 2026, calculated from the AGM date.

MSME-1 is consistently under-filed. The obligation falls on the company, not the MSME supplier. If your vendor is Udyam-registered and you have not paid them within 45 days of the invoice or agreed credit period (whichever is earlier), you must disclose that outstanding amount. Make it a standard practice to collect Udyam Registration Certificates from all vendors at the start of each FY.

LLP Annual Deadlines

LLP Form 8 requires certification by a practising Chartered Accountant or Company Secretary where contribution exceeds Rs. 25 lakh or turnover exceeds Rs. 40 lakh. The late fee for LLP forms is Rs. 100 per day with no statutory upper cap. A six-month delay on Form 11 costs Rs. 18,300 — a completely avoidable expenditure.

Labour Law and Payroll Compliance

EPFO and ESIC

• PF Electronic Challan-cum-Return (ECR): Due by 15th of the following month for all establishments employing 20 or more persons. Payment is made through the EPFO Unified Portal (unifiedportal-emp.epfindia.gov.in).
• ESIC contribution: Also by the 15th of the following month for establishments where 10 or more employees earn up to Rs. 21,000 per month (in most States). Contributions are paid through the ESIC portal (esic.in).
• EPFO annual return: Establishments maintaining exempted PF trusts file through the EPFO portal; the deadline is 25 April for the previous financial year.

Delays in EPFO and ESIC payments attract damages under the respective Acts — these are in addition to the interest that accrues. The damages can be substantial for chronic delays and are assessed at the discretion of the enforcement officer.

Professional Tax

Professional Tax is a State-level levy and each State maintains its own portal and due-date regime:

• Maharashtra PTRC: Monthly returns if annual PT liability exceeds Rs. 50,000; annual otherwise. Monthly returns are due by the last working day of the following month.
• Karnataka: Payment by the 20th of the following month; annual return by 20 April.
• Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal: Refer to the respective State's commercial taxes portal for current due dates, as these are updated periodically.

Worked Example: The True Cost of Missing Three Deadlines

Scenario: A private limited company with a turnover of Rs. 8 crore misses three routine deadlines in the first quarter of FY 2026-27. None of these are deliberate evasions — they are coordination failures.

Missed Deadline 1 — GSTR-3B for April 2026, Filed 35 Days Late (25 June 2026)

• Outstanding GST liability for April 2026: Rs. 4,00,000
• Late filing fee: Rs. 50/day × 35 days = Rs. 1,750
• GST interest u/s 50 CGST Act on tax paid late: Rs. 4,00,000 × 18% × 35 ÷ 365 = Rs. 6,904
• Sub-total: Rs. 8,654

Missed Deadline 2 — TDS Returns Form 24Q and Form 26Q for Q1, Filed 60 Days Late (30 September 2026)

• Due date: 31 July 2026; actual filing: 30 September 2026; delay: 61 days
• Late fee u/s 234E: Rs. 200/day × 61 days × 1 form = Rs. 12,200 per form
• Two forms (24Q for salary TDS + 26Q for vendor TDS): Rs. 24,400
• Sub-total: Rs. 24,400

Missed Deadline 3 — LLP Form 11 of a Group LLP, Filed 183 Days Late

• Due date: 30 May 2027; filed: 30 November 2027
• Late fee on MCA V3: Rs. 100/day × 183 days = Rs. 18,300
• Sub-total: Rs. 18,300

Total preventable cost across three lapses: Rs. 51,354

This is before accounting for the accountant's time spent on MCA V3 portal follow-up and rectification, before the commercial friction caused by buyers who could not claim ITC during the GSTR-3B delay window, and before the management bandwidth consumed by responding to automated GST portal demand notices. A compliance calendar with automated reminders and a two-day review buffer would have cost a fraction of this.

Pitfalls That Derail Compliance Teams

1. Applying the 7th-of-month rule to March TDS. The deadline for paying TDS deducted in March is 30 April, not 7 April. This is the most frequently encountered TDS interest trigger. Put a specific reminder for this date because it falls in the same week as the new-FY opening rush.

2. Confusing GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B deadlines. GSTR-1 is the 11th; GSTR-3B is the 20th. Filing GSTR-1 on the 18th means your buyers cannot auto-populate GSTR-2B on the 14th as expected, and you have filed the outward return 7 days late. These are two distinct filings with different consequences for different stakeholders.

3. Treating the QRMP scheme as a quarterly payment scheme. The QRMP scheme reduces return-filing frequency, not payment frequency. The PMT-06 challan is due every month by the 25th. Finance teams who onboard into QRMP and stop the monthly payment habit will face three months of 18% GST interest when they eventually file the quarterly GSTR-3B.

4. Skipping DIR-3 KYC because "nothing has changed." DIR-3 KYC is an annual obligation due by 30 September regardless of whether the director's details have changed. A missed KYC de-activates the DIN, which blocks AOC-4, MGT-7, ADT-1, and every other MCA form that requires a director's DSC. Reactivation requires filing the KYC with an additional fee, but the damage to downstream filing timelines can be significant.

5. Missing MSME-1 because you have not verified vendor registration status. Your obligation to file MSME-1 arises the moment an MSME-registered supplier is unpaid beyond 45 days — irrespective of whether you know they are MSME-registered. The prudent practice is to collect Udyam Registration Certificates from every vendor at the start of each financial year and log their MSME status in your vendor master.

6. Treating the tax audit report and the ITR as a single deadline. Form 3CA-3CD (or 3CB-3CD) is due 30 September of the assessment year. The Income-tax Return for audit cases is due 31 October. These are two separate deliverables with a one-month gap. Attempting to file the ITR without the completed audit report results in a defective return and may trigger a notice under Section 139(9).

7. Outsourcing compliance ownership to your CA without maintaining an independent tracker. Your CA files on your behalf, but the statutory obligation rests with the company's directors and the LLP's designated partners. If a deadline is missed due to a data handover gap, the late fee and interest accrue on the entity, not the professional. Maintain your own compliance tracker as a parallel control — it takes 15 minutes a month and provides complete protection in the event of a dispute.

Building a Compliance Review Ritual That Actually Works

A calendar without a review process degrades within three months as daily urgencies crowd out non-urgent-but-important filings. Build this four-week rhythm into your monthly operating calendar:

Week 4 of the current month — Preparation

• Pull next month's compliance checklist from the master tracker.
• Confirm all input data is available: finalised payroll figures for TDS, PF, and ESIC; the sales register for GSTR-1; the purchase register for GSTR-2B ITC reconciliation; outstanding MSME vendor invoice ageing for the half-yearly MSME-1 window.
• Identify any pending items from the current month and escalate open items to the relevant owner.

Days 1–10 of the following month — Payment and early filing week

• Pay TDS challan by the 7th via ITNS 281 on the TIN 2.0 portal. For March deductions, calendar 30 April separately.
• Prepare and upload the GSTR-1 invoice data well before the 11th. A buffer of two working days before the deadline prevents portal congestion from causing a missed filing.
• Process payroll reconciliation and upload EPFO ECR and ESIC challan by the 15th.

Days 11–20 — Return reconciliation and filing week

• GSTR-2B auto-populates on the 14th for monthly filers. Reconcile claimed ITC against GSTR-2B before filing GSTR-3B.
• File GSTR-3B by the 20th. For QRMP filers, ensure PMT-06 was paid by the 25th of the previous month.
• Pull the latest AIS/TIS data from the Income-tax portal. Any new third-party reported transactions (property registrations, high-value cash deposits, securities transactions) that do not match your books need to be investigated before they surface in a scrutiny notice.

Days 21–Month-end — Evidence archival and forward planning

• Save every acknowledgement, challan, and ARN to the month's evidence sub-folder. Record the filing date and acknowledgement number in the master tracker.
• Update the advance-tax working sheet: compare year-to-date advance tax paid against the instalment schedule and adjust the next instalment if your profit estimate has changed.
• Flag any upcoming quarterly or annual deadlines (DIR-3 KYC window, MSME-1 half-year, TDS return quarter-end) that require preparation to begin in the current month.

Key Takeaways

• TDS deducted in March must be paid by 30 April, not 7 April. This single exception is the most common source of TDS interest across Indian businesses.
• QRMP filers must pay PMT-06 by the 25th of every month, even though the GSTR-3B return is quarterly. "Quarterly return" does not mean "quarterly payment."
• A 61-day delay on two TDS returns (Form 24Q + Form 26Q) generates a mandatory Rs. 24,400 late fee under Section 234E — before any scrutiny, penalty, or professional fees for rectification.
• DIR-3 KYC is an annual filing due by 30 September, regardless of any change in a director's details. A missed KYC freezes the DIN and blocks every subsequent MCA filing for that director.
• The tax audit report (Form 3CA-3CD) is due 30 September of the assessment year; the ITR for audit cases is due 31 October. These are two separate deadlines separated by a full month — plan for both.
• LLP Form 11 carries a Rs. 100-per-day late fee with no statutory ceiling. A six-month delay costs Rs. 18,300 in avoidable fees; build a May 30 reminder into every year's planning calendar from the first week of April.
• Every compliance obligation needs an Owner, a Reviewer, and an evidence archive. A calendar is a list; an operating system built around the calendar — with reminders, reconciliations, and a monthly stand-up — is what keeps late fees off your P&L.