As per The Companies Act, 2013 – Every company is required to file the annual accounts & annual returns within 30 days and 60 days respectively from the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting. The ROC filing of annual accounts is governed under Section 129 (3), 137, of The Companies Act , 2013 read with Rule 12 of the Company (Accounts) Rules, 2014 and annual return is governed under Section 92 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 11 of the Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014.
The Changes in Compliance are as follows:
- Newly incorporated companies are required to file a declaration for Commencement of Business within 6 months of incorporation. An additional time of 6 more months shall be allowed.
- Applicability of Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 shall be made applicable from the financial year 2020-2021 instead of from 2019-2020 notified earlier. This will significantly ease the burden on companies and auditors for the year 2019-20.
- The mandatory requirement of holding meetings of the Board of the companies within prescribed interval provided in the Companies Act (120 days), 2013, shall be extended by a period of 60 days till next two quarters i.e., till 30th September.
- The requirement to create a Deposit reserve of 20% of deposits maturing during the financial year 2020-21 before 30th April 2020 shall be allowed to be complied with till 30th June 2020.
- Additional fees shall not be charged for late filing during a moratorium period from 01st April to 30th September 2020, in respect of any document, return, statement etc., required to be filed in the MCA-21 Registry, irrespective of its due date, which will not only reduce the compliance burden, including financial burden of companies/ LLPs at large, but also enable long-standing non-compliant companies/LLPs to make a ‘fresh start’
- Schedule 4 to the Companies Act, 2013, states that Independent Directors are required to hold at least one meeting without the attendance of non-independent directors and members of management. For the year 2019-20, if the IDs of a company have not been able to hold even one meeting, the same shall not be considered as a violation.
- The requirement to invest 15% of debentures maturing during a particular year in specified instruments before 30th April 2020, maybe done so before 30th June 2020.
- Non-compliance of minimum residency in India for a period of at least 182 days by at least one director of every company, under Section 149 of the Companies Act, shall not be treated as a violation.
- Due to the emerging financial distress faced by most companies on account of the large-scale economic distress caused by COVID 19, it has been decided to raise the threshold of default under section 4 of the IBC 2016 to Rs. 1 crore (from the existing threshold of Rs. 1 lakh). This will by and large prevent triggering of insolvency proceedings against MSMEs. If the current situation continues beyond 30th of April 2020, we may consider suspending sections 7, 9 and 10 of the IBC 2016 for a period of 6 months so as to stop companies at large from being forced into insolvency proceedings in such force majeure causes of default.
Due Dates of ROC Return Filing (FY 2019-20)
| Name of E-form | Purpose of E-form | Due date of Filing | Due Date for FY 2019-20 |
| Form ADT-1 | Appointment of Auditor | 15 days from the conclusion of AGM | 14th October 2020 |
| Form AOC-4 and Form AOC-4 CFS (in case of consolidated financial statements) | Filing of Annual Accounts | 30 days from the conclusion of the AGM (In case of OPC within 180 days from the close of the financial year) | 29th October 2020 |
| Form MGT-7 | Filing of Annual Return | 60 days from the conclusion of AGM | 28th November 2020 |
| Form CRA-4 | Filing of Cost Audit Report | 30 days from the receipt of Cost Audit Report | 30 days from the receipt of Cost Audit Report |
| Form MGT-14 | Filing of resolutions with MCA regarding Board Report and Annual Accounts | 30 days from the date of Board Meeting | 30 days from the date of Board Meeting |
| MSME Form 1 | Half yearly return with the registrar in respect of outstanding payments to Micro or Small Enterprise. | Within a month for each half of the year | 30th April 2020 (for October 2019 to March 2020)
31st October 2020 (April 2020 to September 2020) |
Due Date for AOC-4 NBFC (Ind AS) & AOC-4 CFS NBFC (Ind AS)
The AOC-4 NBFC (Ind AS) and AOC-4 CFS NBFC (Ind AS) forms were earlier to be deployed on 31st January, 2020 & 17th February, 2020 respectively. The MCA has notified that the due dates for the AOC-4 NBFC (Ind AS) & AOC-4 CFS NBFC (Ind AS) has been extended till 30th June 2020 without any additional fees for the Financial Year 2018-19.
Penalty/Additional Fees
NOTE: Additional Fees for E-form AOC-4 (XBRL and Non-XBRL) and E-form MGT-7 after the due date is Rs. 100 per day with effect from 1st July 2018.
For other forms, docs etc.
| Period of Delays | Fees |
| Up to 30 days | 2 times of normal fees |
| More than 30 days and up to 60 days | 4 times of normal fees |
| More than 60 days and up to 90 days | 6 times of normal fees |
| More than 90 days and up to 180 days | 10 times of normal fees |
| More than 180 days and up to 270 days | 12 times of normal fees |
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