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INTRODUCTION
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) vide its General Circular No. 06/2025 dated 17th October, 2025, has provided relaxation of additional fees and extension of time for filing of financial statements [AOC-4, AOC-4 CFS, AOC-4 XBRL, AOC-4 NBFC (Ind AS), AOC-4 CFS NBFC (Ind AS)] and Annual returns [MGT-7 and MGT-7A] under the Companies Act, 2013 for the FY 2024-25 uptill 31st December, 2025.
This extension has been granted owing to the recent deployment of new e-forms on MCA-21 V3 portal. To facilitate transition to the new system, companies can now file their financial statements and annual returns for the FY 2024-25 within the extended deadline without payment of any additional fees.
IMPORTANT CLARIFICATIONS
- This relaxation is limited to the filing of Financial Statements and Annual Returns only.
- It does not extend the statutory timeline for holding the AGM.
- No relaxation has been provided for other statutory filings, including but not limited to:
- Form ADT-1 – Auditor Appointment
- MSME Form – Half-yearly return for payments due to MSMEs
- LLP Form 8 – Statement of Account and Solvency for LLPs
- Form DIR-12 – Appointment / Regularization of Directors
- Form MGT-14 – Filing of Board / Shareholder Resolutions or General meeting conducted through Video-conferencing (VC)
- Form CRA-2 – Appointment of Cost Auditor
- Form CRA-4 – Filing of Cost Auditor Report
- any other e-form apart from the financial statements and annual return filings
IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS
The MCA is currently working on making changes to their system so that the fee waiver for filing Financial Statements and Annual Returns for FY 2024-25 can be applied properly.
Companies whose filing deadline has already passed or is coming up soon, are advised that the MCA portal will reflect the fee waiver once these system updates are finished.
In cases where companies have already filed late and paid additional fees, provisions for refund of such additional fees may become available after the system update is implemented.
For more details, refer to the MCA Notification dated 17th October, 2025:
https://www.mca.gov.in/bin/dms/getdocument?mds=lZq6ZzM2uLU5k38cgrQaxw%253D%253D&type=open
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
