MGT-7 Due Date 2026: Which Form to File, Fees and Penalties

If you run a private limited company in India, MGT-7 is not optional reading, it's a yearly appointment you cannot skip. Think of it like the annual health check-up for your company, except this one is with the Registrar of Companies, and skipping it costs real money, not just a guilty conscience. Every year, many business owners in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and smaller towns only notice the date when their CA calls in the last week of November. This blog is here so that doesn't happen to you.

MGT-7 is the Annual Return that every registered company in India must file with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).(Under Section 92 of the Companies Act, 2013, read with Rule 11 of the Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014.) In plain words, it's a snapshot of your company as it stood on the last day of the financial year, that is, 31st March.

It records:

• your registered office address and business activity

• your shareholding pattern, shares and debentures

• your directors and key managerial personnel, and any changes during the year

• board meetings and the AGM held

• directors' pay

• any penalties or punishments on the company

It's essentially the MCA's way of keeping a running record of who owns and runs your company, and how it behaved through the year.

Here's something most people don't realise, MGT-7 has to be filed even if your company did zero business the entire year. A dormant bank account and no transactions doesn't excuse you from this. As long as your company's status is active on the MCA record, this filing is mandatory.

This is where most of the confusion happens. There are two forms, and picking the wrong one is the most common filing mistake.

MGT-7A is the shorter, simplified version meant for One Person Companies (OPCs) and Small Companies. And here's a fresh update that changes things for a lot of businesses, MCA revised the definition of "small company" through Notification G.S.R. 880(E) dated 1st December 2025. Earlier, a small company meant paid-up capital up to ₹ 4 crore and turnover up to ₹ 40 crore. That limit has now jumped to paid-up capital up to ₹ 10 crore and turnover up to ₹ 100 crore. This means many mid-sized private companies that earlier had to file the detailed MGT-7 can now shift to the simpler MGT-7A, provided they aren't a holding company, subsidiary, Section 8 company, or governed by a special Act.

MGT-7 is for everyone else, regular private limited companies, public companies, and any company that doesn't fit the small company or OPC bracket.

Here's the number everyone searches for, and everyone gets slightly confused about. The law says you have 60 days from your AGM date to file MGT-7 or MGT-7A. Now, most companies are required to hold their AGM on or before 30th September, following the close of the financial year. Do the maths, and for a company with a financial year ending 31st March 2026, holding its AGM on 30th September 2026, the MGT-7 due date works out to 29th November 2026.

An OPC doesn't hold an AGM, so the 60 days run from the date an AGM would have been due. Most practitioners take that as 30 September, which puts the OPC due date at 29 November 2026.

One more thing worth knowing, since 14th July 2025, both MGT-7 and MGT-7A are filed exclusively on the MCA V3 portal, the older V2 e-filing route for these forms has been shut. The V3 form now also asks for GPS coordinates and a photograph of your registered office, so keep that ready before you sit down to file.

Short on time before 29 November? We can check which form applies to you and file it on V3. Fill you basic details here-https://one-startup.in/contact , our team will get back to you!

Before filing on the MCA portal, keep these documents ready:

● your list of shareholders and their holdings as on 31st March,

● details of directors and KMPs with any changes during the year,

● copies of board meeting and AGM minutes, details of any share transfers,

● the company's principal business activities (as per your latest financials),

● and, if applicable, MGT-8 certification from a practising Company Secretary.

MGT-8 is a certificate from a practising Company Secretary. Under Rule 11(2), it is needed for listed companies and for companies with paid-up capital of ₹10 crore or more or turnover of ₹50 crore or more. If you file MGT-7A as a small company with turnover of ₹50 crore or more, ask your CS whether MGT-8 applies, as sources differ on this.

One-startup is aprofessional firm handling ROC filings and compliance, we know that gathering the right documents can often be the biggest challenge. We help you prepare and arrange the required documents as per compliance requirements.

The ROC fee isn't flat, it depends on your company's nominal share capital.

Small amounts individually, but they add up across your compliance calendar, so budget for them.

This is where companies actually lose money, and we'd rather you know this upfront than find out the hard way. Miss the deadline, and an additional fee of ₹ 100 per day kicks in, with no upper cap. File 40 days late, and that's ₹ 4,000 gone, just as a delay charge, on top of the normal fee.

It doesn't stop there. If you don't file at all, Section 92(5) makes the company and every officer in default liable to a penalty of ₹10,000, plus ₹100 for every day the default continues. The cap is ₹2,00,000 for the company and ₹50,000 per officer. Section 446B halves these penalties for OPCs, small companies, start-ups and producer companies.

Keep missing it and it gets worse: directors of a company that doesn't file for three years in a row can be disqualified (Section 164(2)), and the ROC can strike the company off (Section 248).

We're not saying this to scare you, we're saying it because we've seen founders shrug off a "small form" until the penalty notice actually shows up, and by then it's an unpleasant surprise nobody budgeted for.

A few patterns repeat every filing season. Companies do all kind of mistakes in their fillings. Start from

• Filing MGT-7 when MGT-7A would do, or MGT-7A when you no longer count as small

• Filing MGT-7 before AOC-4

• Counting 60 days from 31 March instead of the AGM date

• Missing the MGT-8 certificate when it's needed

• Office location details or photo not ready on V3

Your annual return is due by 29 November 2026, and AOC-4 has to go in first, by 30 October. If your board minutes and shareholder list are up to date, a Company Secretary can file both quickly.

If they aren't, or you're not sure which form applies, that's where  One-Startup come in. We handle the full annual ROC filing: we check whether MGT-7 or MGT-7A applies, compile your shareholding and director data, coordinate MGT-8 where needed, and file AOC-4, MGT-7 or MGT-7A and DIR-3 KYC on MCA V3, well before 29 November.

Talk to a one-startup expert. WhatsApp or call +91 70551 07773 or email us today

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