Important MCA Forms Every Company Secretary Should Know in 2026

The MCA-21 V3 portal has rationalised the form library considerably since 2024. The fifteen forms below cover the overwhelming majority of routine CS work. For each, we capture the purpose, the deadline, a short list of fields that most often cause rejection, and a note on what changed in V3.

Incorporation forms

SPICe+ (INC-32)

The integrated form that incorporates a company, allots DIN to up to three directors, applies for PAN and TAN, sets up EPFO and ESIC registration, and reserves the name — in one transaction. Filed in two parts: Part A for name reservation, Part B for incorporation. Common rejection: name does not satisfy Rule 8 of the Companies (Incorporation) Rules; objects do not match the proposed name; subscriber DSC does not match the PAN.

INC-9 — Declaration by subscribers and first directors

Auto-generated within SPICe+ in V3. No separate filing in most cases.

INC-20A — Declaration of commencement of business

To be filed within 180 days of incorporation by every company having a share capital. Failure entirely can lead to the company being struck off.

Annual returns

AOC-4 — Financial statements

In V3, the XBRL filing now uses the IND-AS-aligned taxonomy 2024 for companies above the prescribed thresholds. The chart above shows AOC-4 XBRL has the highest first-pass rejection rate of all forms (31%) — almost entirely from schema validation against the new taxonomy.

MGT-7 / MGT-7A — Annual return

MGT-7A is the simplified version for OPCs and small companies. Common errors: total holding split percentages do not add up to 100; CIN of subsidiary or holding company entered without the correct format check; director details out of sync with DIR-12 history.

Director and Key Managerial Personnel forms

DIR-12 — Appointment / Cessation / Change in Designation

Filed within thirty days of the change. In V3, this form auto-fetches the latest DIN status; a deactivated DIN will cause the form to fail at validation. Always run a DIN status check before drafting DIR-12.

DIR-3 KYC — Director KYC

Annual confirmation by every DIN holder. The web-based DIR-3 KYC Web form is sufficient when no details have changed; the full DIR-3 KYC e-form is needed when any field changes. Late filing costs ₹5,000 and deactivates the DIN.

DIR-11 — Resignation by director

Filed by the resigning director themselves within thirty days of resignation. A director failing to file DIR-11 is a frequent residual point on due diligence.

Share capital and structure

PAS-3 — Return of allotment

Within thirty days of allotment. Common error: filing without the requisite resolution attachments; mis-tagging a rights issue as a preferential allotment, which has very different downstream consequences.

SH-7 — Alteration of authorised capital

Within thirty days. Carries stamp duty on the increase in authorised share capital, computed by state and capital slab.

MGT-14 — Filing of resolutions

Within thirty days of passing the resolution. Required for both special resolutions and a specified list of board resolutions under Section 117(3). The list is longer than most teams remember — the “routine” CSR policy, the appointment of CFO, the borrowing limits, all attract MGT-14.

Charges and security interest

CHG-1 — Creation or modification of charge

Within thirty days of creation, extendable to 120 days with additional fees. After 120 days, only the Central Government can condone delay.

CHG-4 — Satisfaction of charge

Within thirty days of the satisfaction. Often the easier filing to forget because the borrower's focus moves on after loan closure.

Registered office, status, and miscellaneous

INC-22 — Notice of registered office change

Within thirty days. Many practices forget that even a building-number change within the same complex requires INC-22.

MSME-1, DPT-3

Half-yearly and annual respectively. See our ROC compliance guide for the full schedule.

What V3 changed for the working CS

• Single sign-on. User-based login rather than per-company. DSC-only login is being phased out for most forms; OTP-based MFA is now the norm.
• Pre-fill from MCA master data. Many fields now pre-populate from the existing CIN record — a quality improvement that also surfaces stale data the company had not noticed.
• Stricter schema validation. Forms that previously passed with minor inconsistencies now reject at upload. Run a local validation before each upload.
• Tighter linkage to PAN and TAN. Mismatches between MCA records and Income Tax records cause failures that did not happen in V2.

The MCA-21 V3 transition introduced friction in 2023–24; by mid-2026 the platform is materially more reliable than the V2 it replaced. The fifteen forms above will cover the vast majority of what a CS practice files in a year.