AOC-4 vs MGT-7 — What's the Difference?
AOC-4 files the company's financial statements (balance sheet, profit and loss); MGT-7 files its annual return (shareholding, management structure) — two different documents, triggered by the same AGM but due on different, independent windows.
Forms to check
Per-year AGM date overrides (3)
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ROC Default & Penalty Exposure
Private Limited Company · Generated by PracticeFlow
| FY | Form | Due date | Days late | Penalty |
|---|
Total exposure: ₹0
Verify against the latest MCA notifications and confirm with a qualified CS/CA before relying on this figure. practiceflow.in/tools/roc-penalty-calculator
What each form actually contains
AOC-4 carries the financial statements approved at the AGM — the balance sheet, profit and loss account, cash flow statement, board's report, and auditor's report. MGT-7 (or the abridged MGT-7A for small companies and OPCs) carries the annual return — the company's shareholding pattern, share capital structure, details of directors and key managerial personnel, and other corporate-governance particulars. They overlap in triggering event (the AGM) but not in content: one is a financial document, the other is a structural/governance one.
Because the content differs, so does who prepares each: AOC-4 typically follows directly from the audited financial statements a CA has already finalised, while MGT-7 is usually the CS's own compilation of the year's governance record — which is part of why they're commonly filed by different people within the same engagement, even though both are due around the same time.
Different windows, same AGM, independent penalties
AOC-4 is due 30 days after the AGM; MGT-7 is due 60 days after the same AGM — a full extra month. Both carry the identical ₹100/day, no-cap additional fee structure, but each is assessed independently: filing AOC-4 on time does not protect against a penalty on a late MGT-7, and vice versa.
This independence matters most for Section 164(2)(a): the disqualification trigger is three continuous years of not filing financial statements (AOC-4) OR annual returns (MGT-7/7A) — either form alone, unfiled for three straight years, is sufficient. A company that always files AOC-4 on time but has missed MGT-7 for three years is disqualifying its directors just as surely as one that missed both.
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Why this matters
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See PracticeFlow for CS FirmsEstimate for planning purposes, not legal or compliance advice — always confirm with a CS/CA before relying on any figure or consequence stated here.