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LLP or Private Limited in 2026? A founder’s decision guide

Liability, compliance load, funding and tax — compared side by side for early-stage teams.

LLP or Private Limited in 2026? A founder’s decision guide

Map your year once, and compliance stops being a fire drill.

Missing a statutory deadline rarely happens because a founder doesn't care — it happens because no one mapped the year. Here's the calendar we give every FilingSetu client, so the dates find you instead of the other way around.

Indian businesses juggle four overlapping compliance streams — GST, TDS, income tax and ROC — each with its own rhythm. Treated separately, they feel relentless. Mapped together onto one calendar, they become a predictable monthly routine. Let's walk through the year.

Start with the monthly anchors

Three obligations repeat every single month, and getting them on autopilot removes most of the stress:

  • GSTR-1 — outward supplies, due by the 11th of the following month.
  • GSTR-3B — summary return and tax payment, due by the 20th.
  • TDS deposit — tax deducted must be paid by the 7th of the next month.

“If you only automate three things this year, make it your monthly GST and TDS deposits. Everything else is quarterly or annual — and far easier to plan around.”

Layer in the quarterly checkpoints

Quarters are where TDS returns and advance tax live. Block these four dates now:

  1. TDS returns (Form 24Q/26Q) — by the 31st of the month following each quarter.
  2. Advance tax — 15% by Jun 15, 45% by Sep 15, 75% by Dec 15, 100% by Mar 15.
  3. Form 16A issuance to deductees, within 15 days of filing the TDS return.
  4. Board meeting minutes, if you're a private limited company.
!
Advance tax is easy to underpay
Interest under sections 234B and 234C accrues quietly when instalments fall short. If your income is lumpy, reconcile your estimate each quarter rather than once at year-end.

Mark the annual milestones

Finally, the once-a-year filings that close out your compliance — the ones worth starting early so they never become a March scramble:

  • Income tax return — typically due Jul 31 (non-audit) or Oct 31 (audit cases).
  • GST annual return (GSTR-9) — by Dec 31 of the following financial year.
  • ROC filings — AOC-4 and MGT-7 within 30 and 60 days of your AGM.

Print it, pin it, or — better — hand the whole thing to a chartered accountant who tracks it for you. That's exactly what a FilingSetu compliance plan does: every date above, monitored and filed on time, with a reminder before each one.

RD
CA Rahul D.
Corporate Advisor, FilingSetu

Rahul advises early-stage founders on entity structure, registrations and first-year compliance.

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