MCA Extends AOC-4 Deadline to 31 December, MGT-7 to 31 January
Image: Business Standard (file)
Companies racing to file their FY 2025-26 accounts before 30 October now have two more months. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), in General Circular No. 05/2026 dated 24 October, allowed financial statements in Form AOC-4 to be filed until 31 December 2026 and annual returns in Forms MGT-7 and MGT-7A until 31 January 2027, without additional fees. The ministry acted after company secretaries reported repeated failures on its MCA-21 filing portal.
Six Weeks of Late Fees Lifted
For a company that held its annual general meeting (AGM) on 30 September, AOC-4 was due on 30 October and MGT-7 on 29 November. The relief covers every AOC-4 variant, including consolidated (CFS), XBRL and the NBFC Ind AS forms. MGT-7A is the shorter return filed by one-person companies and small companies.
The circular does not extend the deadline for holding AGMs, and companies that missed it remain liable. Forms such as ADT-1 (auditor appointment) are not covered. A company that files after the new dates will pay additional fees counted from the original due date.
Portal Glitches Behind the Extension
The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), in a representation dated 9 October, asked for exactly this date of 31 December. It listed downtime, slow responses, session timeouts, login and digital signature problems and validation errors on the MCA-21 Version 3 portal, along with heavier disclosures in the revised AOC-4 and MGT-7 forms.
This is the second year running that the filing season has needed relief. For FY 2024-25, the ministry extended deadlines twice, through circulars dated 17 October and 30 December 2025, Business Standard reported. ICSI president Pawan G Chandak said genuine compliance efforts should not be hurt by “transitional or technological challenges”.
No Word on a Portal Fix
The circular does not say what the ministry is doing to fix the portal or whether the new dates will be extended again. More business news is on the IPB Economy page and in Daily Updates.
Source: MCA General Circular No. 05/2026. Also based on reporting by Business Standard and CorpLaw Updates.
Image: Business Standard (file).
