Kerala Business Compliance Calendar: Every Deadline From September to December 2026

The last four months of 2026 carry the heaviest filing load of the year. This calendar lists every date a Kerala business is likely to meet before 31 December 2026, as the law stands on 15 October 2026; the ISO entry is a standards update rather than a legal deadline.

September 2026

• 15 September – second instalment of advance tax (45 per cent cumulative) where tax after TDS exceeds ten thousand rupees; resident senior citizens without business income are exempt, and presumptive taxpayers under sections 44AD and 44ADA pay once, by 15 March.
• 16 September – ISO 9001:2026 published, a standards update rather than a legal deadline; the three-year transition for ISO 9001:2015 certificates runs to September 2029.
• 30 September – no longer the tax audit date for 2025-26; see 21 October.
• 30 September – last date for a company's annual general meeting for the financial year ended 31 March 2026, six months from year end; the two ROC filings below run from it.
• 30 September – no longer the DIR-3 KYC deadline: director KYC now runs on a three-year cycle due on 30 June, so a director who filed for 2025-26 with unchanged details has nothing due this year.

October 2026

• 1 October – BIS Standard Mark mandatory for ninety categories of household and commercial electrical appliances, and for pipe wrenches, spanners, pliers, wrought aluminium utensils and aluminium beverage cans under their own Orders; small enterprises follow from 1 January 2027, micro enterprises from 1 April 2027.
• 7 October – deposit of TDS and TCS for September. The 57th GST Council met on 8 October; its recommendations take effect only when notified.
• 11 and 20 October – GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B for September (monthly filers); QRMP filers: GSTR-1 for July to September on 13 October, GSTR-3B on 22 October for Kerala.
• 15 October – PF and ESI contributions for September, as every month.
• 21 October – tax audit report for 2025-26, moved from 30 September by CBDT Circular 07/2026 of 28 September; transfer-pricing cases are excluded.
• 30 October – LLP Form 8 (Statement of Account and Solvency) for the year ended 31 March 2026.
• 30 October – AOC-4 (financial statements) for a company that held its AGM on 30 September, 30 days from the meeting; earlier if the AGM was earlier.
• 31 October – tax audit report and Form 3CEB where transfer-pricing rules apply; the circular did not move these.
• 31 October – quarterly TDS statements for July to September on the 2025 Act's new forms: 138 (salary), 140 (resident non-salary), 144 (non-resident) and 143 (TCS), replacing 24Q, 26Q, 27Q and 27EQ.
• 31 October – MSME Form 1 for companies with payments to micro or small suppliers outstanding beyond 45 days during April to September.

November 2026

• 7 November – TDS and TCS deposit for October.
• 11 and 20 November – GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B for October.
• 13 November – the Consent Manager framework under the DPDP Rules becomes operational, the first hard milestone before full compliance in May 2027.
• 15 November – PF and ESI for October; Form 131 TDS certificates (formerly Form 16A) for the September quarter.
• 21 November – income-tax return for taxpayers whose accounts are audited, moved from 31 October by the same circular.
• 29 November – MGT-7 or MGT-7A (annual return) for a company that held its AGM on 30 September, being 60 days from the meeting.
• 30 November – income-tax return where transfer-pricing provisions apply.

December 2026

• 7 December – TDS and TCS deposit for November.
• 11 and 20 December – GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B for November.
• 15 December – third instalment of advance tax (75 per cent cumulative), same exemptions as in September; PF and ESI for November.
• 31 December – GSTR-9 annual return and GSTR-9C reconciliation for financial year 2025-26, for taxpayers above the turnover thresholds.
• 31 December – last date for a belated income-tax return for financial year 2025-26 (assessment year 2026-27), still under the 1961 Act. A revised return now runs to 31 March 2027, the end of the assessment year (Finance Act, 2026); after 31 December it carries a section 234I fee of one thousand rupees where total income is up to five lakh rupees, five thousand otherwise.

Kerala-specific: what is not in this window

Kerala's professional tax is a local-body levy paid half-yearly: the April-to-September half was due by 31 August and the October-to-March half falls due on 28 February 2027, so nothing is due to a panchayat or municipality before the year ends. Rule 20 of the profession tax rules has the head of office deduct the tax on the local body's demand and remit it within ten days; the law fixes half-yearly deadlines, not a monthly cycle. The Companies Compliance Facilitation Scheme, which allowed overdue MCA filings at ten per cent of the additional fee, closed on 15 September 2026 after its final extension under General Circular 04/2026; filings now attract the full additional fee.

How to use this calendar

Three dates decide the rest. An AGM held before 30 September pulls AOC-4 and MGT-7 earlier with it. This year's tax-audit extension moved the audit-case return to 21 November; it did not move the TDS statements or the ROC filings. The GST annual return has been extended in some years and not others; plan it as fixed. Keep the company, LLP and GST columns separate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

Income-tax Act, 2025 and the Income Tax Department's compliance calendar; Finance Act, 2026 (sections 139(5) and 234I of the 1961 Act); CGST Rules (due dates by category of state); Companies Act, 2013 sections 92, 96 and 137; G.S.R. 943(E) (director KYC); LLP Act, 2008 section 34; Kerala Panchayat Raj (Profession Tax) Rules, 1996, rule 20; DPIIT S.O. 1739(E) and the hand tools and cookware Orders; MCA General Circular 04/2026; PIB release on the 57th GST Council meeting; CBDT Circular No. 07/2026; DPDP Rules, 2025 commencement notification. Verify any date against the notification before relying on it.

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