Two different filings, both mandatory every year
Every company registered under the Companies Act has two core annual ROC filings, and it's easy to confuse what each one covers.
AOC-4: Financial Statements
AOC-4 is the filing through which a company submits its financial statements — balance sheet, profit & loss account, cash flow statement, and the auditor's report — to the Registrar of Companies. It must be filed within the prescribed timeline after the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM).
MGT-7: Annual Return
MGT-7 is a separate filing covering the company's structural details for the year — shareholding pattern, details of directors and key managerial personnel, changes in share capital, and other corporate governance particulars. It is not a financial filing; it's a snapshot of the company's constitution and structure.
Why both matter, and why the deadlines matter
Both filings are event-linked to your AGM date, and both carry escalating additional fees for late filing — the penalty structure is designed to compound the longer a filing is delayed, so what starts as a manageable late fee can become significant if left unattended. Persistent non-filing can also affect director eligibility over time.
What businesses commonly get wrong
- Losing track of the AGM date, which shifts the filing deadlines for both forms
- Filing AOC-4 before the financials are actually finalised and audited, requiring a correction later
- Not updating MGT-7 for mid-year changes (new directors, share transfers) that should be reflected
A practical approach
The businesses that never face late-filing penalties are almost always the ones that treat these as calendar-driven, not audit-driven — the AGM date and filing windows should sit on a compliance calendar from the start of the year, not be calculated retroactively once the audit is finished.
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