Your first year of compliance after incorporation, month by month

The Certificate of Incorporation feels like the finish line. It is the start of a compliance calendar that begins running immediately, and the first deadlines arrive faster than anyone expects.

Within 30 days

• Appoint the first statutory auditor by board resolution. Form ADT-1 follows.
• Open the company current account. The subscribers' capital must actually be deposited into it.

Within 180 days

• File Form INC-20A, the declaration of commencement of business. Without it the company cannot borrow or begin operations, and the penalty is ₹50,000 on the company plus ₹1,000 per day on each director.
• Ensure the subscription money is fully received and reflected in the bank statement, because INC-20A must attach proof.

Every quarter

• Hold a board meeting. A small company needs at least two a year with a gap of not less than 90 days; others need four.
• File TDS returns if you are deducting tax.

Annually

• Hold the AGM by 30 September, or within nine months of the first financial year end.
• File AOC-4 within 30 days of the AGM and MGT-7 within 60 days.
• Every director files DIR-3 KYC by 30 September.
• File the company income tax return by 31 October where audit applies.

The single most expensive miss in the first year is INC-20A. It has no relationship to whether you have started trading, and the penalty is fixed rather than proportional.