By ComplyKart Expert Team · Reviewed by our corporate compliance specialists · Last updated: October 2026

October 2026 Compliance Calendar: Every Deadline Your Company or LLP Must Hit

October is the busiest compliance month of the second half of the year. The tax audit extension, the September-quarter GST filings, the first ROC filings after the 30 September AGMs, and the quarterly TDS statements all land within the same four weeks.

Miss one, and the penalty clock starts. Miss two, and your December gets ruined. So here is the full month, organised by law, with exactly who each deadline applies to.

Income tax deadlines

  • 7 October — TDS/TCS deposit for September. Every deductor and collector deposits the tax deducted or collected in September. This one is monthly and non-negotiable.
  • 21 October — Tax audit report (extended). Forms 3CA/3CB and 3CD for FY 2025-26, for specified audit cases under CBDT Circular No. 07/2026. Read our detailed explainer on what the extension covers — and what it does not.
  • 31 October — Quarterly TDS/TCS statements (Q2, July–September). Form 24Q, 26Q, 27Q and 27EQ as applicable. Note this falls on a Saturday. Do not leave it for the last working day.
  • 31 October — Form 3CEB and tax audit report in transfer pricing cases. No extension here. If you have international or specified domestic transactions, this date is fixed.
  • 21 November — Income-tax return (extended, audit cases). Technically a November date, but plan for it now. The return follows the audit.

GST deadlines

  • 10 October — GSTR-7 and GSTR-8. TDS and TCS deductors under GST, and e-commerce operators collecting TCS.
  • 11 October — GSTR-1 (monthly). Outward supplies for September, for monthly filers.
  • 13 October — GSTR-1 (quarterly) and GSTR-6. Quarterly filers report July–September outward supplies; input service distributors file GSTR-6.
  • 18 October — CMP-06/CMP-08. Composition taxpayers — payment and statement as applicable for the quarter.
  • 20 October — GSTR-3B, GSTR-5, GSTR-5A (September). Every regular monthly filer. This falls on Dussehra, and no extension has been notified. File early.
  • 22 and 24 October — GSTR-3B (quarterly, QRMP scheme). Dates vary by state category — check which one applies to you.
  • 25 October — PMT-06. Monthly tax payment for QRMP taxpayers, where applicable.
  • 28 October — GSTR-11. Only for UIN holders claiming refunds. A specialised filing, not for ordinary businesses.

ROC and MCA deadlines

  • 30 October — AOC-4 (financial statements). For companies that held their AGM on 30 September 2026. The rule is 30 days from the AGM — so if your AGM was on a different date, your deadline moves with it.
  • 30 October — LLP Form 8. Statement of Account and Solvency for every LLP, for the half year ended 30 September.
  • Within 60 days of AGM — MGT-7/MGT-7A (annual return). For a 30 September AGM, that means late November. Start preparing now; the annual return reconciles with AOC-4.
  • 31 October — MSME Form I (half-yearly). Companies with amounts due to micro and small enterprises outstanding beyond 45 days must report April–September dues.
  • ADT-1 (auditor appointment). If your AGM appointed or re-appointed the statutory auditor, file within 15 days of the AGM.

Payroll deadlines

  • 15 October — PF and ESI contributions for September. Deposit plus the ECR filing on the PF portal. This is monthly, and delays attract penal damages — not just interest.

The trickiest part: fixed dates vs event-linked dates

Most October deadlines are fixed calendar dates — GSTR-3B is the 20th, TDS deposit is the 7th, no ambiguity. But the MCA deadlines work differently. AOC-4 is due 30 days after your AGM. MGT-7 is due 60 days after your AGM. ADT-1 is 15 days after your AGM.

Think of it like a library book. The due date is not printed on a wall calendar for everyone — it is stamped on your card, 30 days from the day you borrowed the book. Two companies with AGMs a week apart have AOC-4 deadlines a week apart. Copying another company's calendar is how filings go late.

So build an entity-specific calendar. One page per company or LLP: AGM date, financial year, filing frequency, and every derived deadline. It takes an hour to build and saves you from penalty notices all year.

Three October traps I see every year

First, the Dussehra trap. GSTR-3B falls on a festival day with no extension. Teams assume a holiday means relief. It does not.

Second, the Saturday trap. The Q2 TDS statements fall due on Saturday, 31 October. Banks and many offices work reduced hours. Upload on Friday.

Third, the extension-confusion trap. The tax audit extension to 21 October does not extend anything else — not the transfer pricing audit, not the TDS statements, not the ROC filings. Each circular moves only its own deadline.

One final habit worth building: reconcile as you go. The businesses that sail through October are the ones that reconciled their GST data every month, closed their books every quarter, and kept their MCA records current through the year. For them, October is a filing month, not a firefighting month. Start that habit this week, and next October will feel ordinary.

October rewards the organised and punishes the hopeful. Be the former.

Just incorporated? Our first 30 days checklist covers the filings your new company needs before this calendar even begins.