ITR Filing for a Private Limited Company: Forms, Dates and What's Needed

Every private limited company in India must file an income-tax return every year — even in a loss or dormant year — using Form ITR-6, generally due by 31 October of the assessment year when the company is audited (which companies are). It follows the statutory and tax audits, needs your finalised accounts, and non-filing compounds fast into penalties, disallowed loss carry-forwards, and a diligence problem. Here's what's involved.

The form and the deadline

• Form: a company files ITR-6 (companies not claiming exemption under Section 11).
• Deadline: because a company's accounts are audited, the return is generally due by 31 October of the assessment year (the audit report itself by 30 September — see tax audit). Companies with transfer-pricing obligations get a later date.
• Mandatory regardless of income: a company files even if it made a loss or did no business — there's no "nothing to report" exemption.

What you need to file

• Finalised, audited financial statements for the year.
• The statutory audit report and the tax audit report (Form 3CA/3CD) where applicable.
• Details of advance tax/TDS paid, and any self-assessment tax due with the return.
• MAT computation if applicable (minimum tax on book profits).

Why non-filing is serious for a company

Beyond the late-filing fee and interest, a company that doesn't file its ITR faces compounding consequences:

• Loss of carry-forward. Business losses can only be carried forward to offset future profit if the return is filed on time — miss the deadline and you may forfeit valuable loss carry-forward (especially painful for a startup with early losses).
• Diligence flag. An unfiled or late company ITR is exactly what an investor's or acquirer's reviewer checks, alongside your ROC filings.
• Compounding penalties and scrutiny the longer it's left.

The sequence to get right

A company's year-end runs in order: finalise accounts → statutory audit → tax audit (if applicable) → file ITR-6. Rushing the ITR because the audit slipped is where errors creep in — plan the sequence with enough runway.

Track the year-end sequence, with proof

The company year-end is a chain of dependent deadlines (audit → tax audit → ITR), each needing evidence stored. ComplianceStack tracks them as linked dated tasks so nothing in the chain slips, with the filed return and reports kept as evidence. Get your free compliance health check.