Compliance
What late ROC filing actually costs
There is no cap. A single form left for a year costs more than several years of professional fees.
Updated 1 Aug 20264 min read
Most penalties in Indian business law are capped. The additional fee on annual ROC filings is not. It runs at one hundred rupees per day, per form, from the day after the due date until the day the form is accepted.
How the number grows
| Delay | One form | AOC-4 and MGT-7 together |
|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 3,000 rupees | 6,000 rupees |
| 90 days | 9,000 rupees | 18,000 rupees |
| 180 days | 18,000 rupees | 36,000 rupees |
| 365 days | 36,500 rupees | 73,000 rupees |
These are the additional fees only. The normal filing fee is payable on top, and the income tax side has its own consequences.
What else stops working
- Directors of a company in continuing default can be disqualified, which blocks them from other boards
- A deactivated DIN from a missed DIR-3 KYC blocks every other filing that director has to sign
- Due diligence for funding or a sale surfaces the default immediately, because MCA filings are public
- Banks and larger customers increasingly check MCA status before onboarding a vendor
A company with no revenue still files
This is the single most common reason we are called in to clean up. A company that never issued an invoice still appoints an auditor, still files AOC-4 and MGT-7, and still files an income tax return. Dormant status is something you apply for, not something that happens because the business went quiet.