The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has waived the payment of additional fees and extended the deadline for the companies to file their annual returns and financial statements under the Companies Act for FY25. Annual filings pertaining to FY25 can now be uploaded till December 31, 2025 without payment of additional fees.
The earlier deadlines for filing financial statements were October 30 and, for annual returns, November 29.
In a fresh notification, the ministry said that it has recently revised several annual filing e-forms which were deployed on the MCA-21 Version 3 portal.
The relaxations are in view of the deployment of the new e-Forms, and considering that companies may require some time to get familiarised with the filing process. The ministry has received requests from various stakeholders in this regard.
As per the ministry, the revised e-forms on which the relaxations have been provided are MGT-7, MGT-7A, AOC-4, AOC-4 CFS, AOC-4 NBFC (Ind AS), AOC-4 CFS NBFC (Ind AS), and AOC-4 (XBRL).
Experts said that it’s a huge breather for companies who are still figuring out the new reporting mechanism, and the clarification would help them avoid paying hefty additional fees for the delay in annual filings.
“This one-time extension will allow companies to adjust to the new requirements. This step is aligned with the government’s vision to promote ease of doing business,” said a company law expert.
While the MGT-7 is for annual return submission, AOC-4 is a mandatory e-form which is used to file financial statements with the registrar of companies (RoC). Then, AOC-4 (XBRL) is used by certain companies to file their financial statements and other official documents in the Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) format with the ministry.
In the notification, the MCA however said that this particular circular should not be construed as conferring any extension of statutory time for holding of annual general meetings (AGMs). “The companies which have not adhered to the relevant statutory timelines shall continue to be liable to legal action under the appropriate provisions of the Companies Act,” it said.
