—Compliance
The ROC Annual Compliance Checklist Every Pvt Ltd Should Track
Incorporation is day zero, not the finish line. Here's what the Registrar of Companies expects every year, and what actually triggers a penalty.
Getting your Certificate of Incorporation is the easy part. The Companies Act, 2013 then puts a running list of annual obligations on every Private Limited Company — most of which have nothing to do with revenue and everything to do with staying in good standing with the Registrar of Companies (ROC).
Miss enough of them and the company risks being marked for "Strike Off," which is a much more expensive problem to reverse than it is to prevent.
The core annual filings
- AOC-4 — Filing of financial statements, due within 30 days of the AGM
- MGT-7 / MGT-7A — Annual return, due within 60 days of the AGM
- DIR-3 KYC — Director KYC, due by September 30 every year for every director holding a DIN
- ADT-1 — Auditor appointment or reappointment intimation
- Board meetings — Minimum four per year, with minutes recorded within 30 days
What actually triggers penalties
Late AOC-4 or MGT-7 filings attract a penalty of ₹100 per day, per form, with no upper cap — it compounds for as long as the filing sits pending. DIR-3 KYC lapses deactivate the director's DIN entirely, which blocks them from being appointed to any other company until it's resolved.
None of these are one-time fees. They accrue daily until filed, which is why founders who treat compliance as an annual scramble in March consistently end up paying more than the filings themselves cost.
Building a calendar instead of a scramble
The obligations above are predictable — they land on the same dates every year relative to your AGM. A compliance calendar set up at incorporation, not after the first notice arrives, turns this into a checklist instead of a crisis.