Nikhil Goyal · August 2026
Every registered company in India has to keep books and file GST, TDS, income tax and ROC returns. It isn't optional and it isn't annual. GST is monthly. About 1.8 million active companies are on the hook, and roughly 15,000 new ones register every month, 96% of them private limited.
The Ministry of Finance was asked in Parliament this February how much Indian businesses pay in GST late fees. The answer was about ₹2,000 crore a year, every year, for four years running.
And that's GST alone. GST is one filing among many. A private limited company also files ROC and MCA annual returns, where the late fee is ₹100 per form per day and is not capped at all, so two forms a year late runs to about ₹73,000. TDS returns every quarter, at ₹200 a day plus a separate penalty of ₹10,000 to ₹1,00,000 at the assessing officer's discretion. Income tax returns. Advance tax, quarterly. PF and ESI once you have staff. Director KYC. Professional tax in