MCA Extends Deadlines for Form AOC-4 and MGT-7 Annual Filings 2026

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has extended the due dates for filing annual financial statements (AOC-4) and annual returns (MGT-7/7A) for the Financial Year 2025–26. Issued via General Circular No. 05/2026 on 24 October 2026, this circular provides significant relief to companies across India for filing these forms.

The revised time limit (extended period) without additional fees for filing various forms is as under
• Form AOC-4 (Financial Statements): The deadline for submitting financial statements and their applicable variants is extended to 31 December 2026.
• Form MGT-7 / MGT-7A (Annual Returns): The deadline for filing annual returns has been pushed to 31 January 2027.

The relaxation applies across several core corporate annual compliance filings:
1. AOC-4: Standard Financial Statements.
2. AOC-4 (XBRL): Extensible Business Reporting Language filings.
3. AOC-4 (CFS): Consolidated Financial Statements.
4. AOC-4 NBFC (Ind AS) & AOC-4 CFS NBFC (Ind AS): Financial reporting variants for Non-Banking Financial Companies.
5. MGT-7 & MGT-7A: Regular Annual Returns and the simplified variant for OPCs/Small Companies.

Company directors and compliance heads must note that this extension does not alter the statutory deadlines for holding the Annual General Meeting (AGM). Under the Companies Act, 2013, businesses were still required to conduct their regular AGMs within the legally mandated time frame (typically by 30 September unless a separate localized RoC extension applied). The circular merely relaxes the filing window post-AGM. Furthermore, if a company fails to file even by the newly extended dates of 31 December 2026 or 31 January 2027, additional per-day late fees will accumulate retrospectively from the original due dates rather than the extended timeline.