October 2026 Compliance Calendar: Tax Audit, TDS , GST & ROC Due Dates

October 2026 has two key dates. Wednesday 21 October is the extended due date for the tax audit report for FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27), after the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) moved it from 30 September by Circular No. 07/2026. The month then rends with a cluster of deadlines: AOC-4 and LLP Form 8 on Friday 30 October, and the quarterly TDS and TCS statements, Form 3CEB and MSME-1 on Saturday 31 October. This calendar tlists the income-tax, GST, corporate, labour and foreign-exchange deadlines for the month, with who must comply and the legal basis for each.

Key Takeaways

• Tax audit report for FY 2025-26: now due on 21 October 2026 instead of 30 September, under CBDT Circular No. 07/2026 dated 28 September 2026.
• ITR for companies and other audited assessees: now due on 21 November 2026 instead of 31 October.
• Transfer pricing cases get no extension: the tax audit report and Form 3CEB stay due on 31 October 2026 and the ITR on 30 November 2026.
• Q2 (July–September 2026) TDS and TCS returns in Forms 138, 140, 143 and 144: due on 31 October 2026. The TCS return is no longer due on 15 October.
• AOC-4 (for a 30 September AGM) and LLP Form 8 are due on 30 October 2026, and MSME-1 for April–September 2026 on 31 October 2026.
• GSTR-3B for September 2026 is due on 20 October 2026, which is Dussehra. No extension has been notified.

In This Article

• October 2026 at a Glance
• October 2026 Due Dates: Day-by-Day List
• Income Tax & TDS — October 2026
• Old vs New Income-tax Form Numbers
• GST Deadlines — October 2026
• ROC, Company & LLP — October 2026
• EPF & ESI — October 2026
• RBI & FEMA — October 2026
• Professional Tax — October 2026
• Late Fees and Penalties — Quick Reference
• Coming Up in November 2026
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Conclusion
• Sources and References

 October 2026 at a Glance

The biggest change this month is the tax audit extension. A CBDT press release and Circular No. 07/2026, both dated 28 September 2026, moved the audit report for FY 2025-26 to 21 October 2026 and the matching income-tax return to 21 November 2026, for companies and other assessees whose accounts are audited. Transfer pricing cases do not get this relief and keep 31 October for the audit report. Most other October deadlines fall in the last two days of the month: the second-quarter TDS and TCS statements, the first annual filings after the 30 September AGM, and the half-yearly MSME return.

 October 2026 Due Dates: Day-by-Day List

Use this list to see what falls due on each date. Weekend and holiday dates are flagged; as of 1 October 2026, no notification has moved any of them.

Income Tax & TDS — October 2026

October runs on two income-tax laws at the same time, and the year a filing relates to decides which law and form number apply. All TDS and TCS work this month relates to FY 2026-27 (tax year 2026-27) and runs under the Income-tax Act, 2025 and the Income-tax Rules, 2026, including the second-quarter statements now filed in Forms 138, 140, 143 and 144. The audit report, Form 3CEB and the audit-case return relate to FY 2025-26 and stay under the Income-tax Act, 1961, preserved by Section 536(2) of the 2025 Act.

On the audit extension. The CBDT press release dated 28 September 2026 extends the due date for the return of persons in S. No. 2 of the Table below Explanation 2 to Section 139(1. These are companies, assessees whose accounts are required to be audited and partners of audited firms. Their return is now due on 21 November 2026 instead of 31 October, and the audit report on 21 October 2026 instead of 30 September. The formal order is Circular No. 07/2026 dated 28 September 2026 (F. No. 225/128/2026/ITA-II), issued under Section 119 of the 1961 Act read with Section 536 of the 2025 Act. Persons to whom Section 92E applies are excluded, so a transfer pricing assessee still furnishes both the Section 44AB report and Form 3CEB by 31 October and files the return by 30 November 2026. The two-step rule is unchanged: the auditor uploads the report and the assessee must accept it from their own login, because a report uploaded but not accepted is treated as not furnished.

Neither the press release nor the circular deals with interest under Section 234A. To avoid any dispute on interest, the safe course for an audited assessee with a balance of tax still payable is to pay self-assessment tax by 31 October 2026 and file the return by 21 November. Charitable trusts and institutions filing Form 10B or 10BB are covered indirectly. These reports are due one month before the return due date, so for trusts whose accounts must be audited, the date should move to 21 October 2026. The circular does not name these forms, so confirm the date shown on the e-filing portal before relying on it.

On the quarterly statements. Rule 219 prescribes one timeline for every quarterly statement, with the quarter ending 30 September due on 31 October. That includes the TCS statement, which many calendars still show on 15 October because that was the position under the Income-tax Rules, 1962. Declarations received in Form 121, the single successor to Forms 15G and 15H, are reported through this quarterly statement under Rule 211(4). The certificates that follow, Form 131 for non-salary TDS and Form 133 for TCS, fall on 15 November 2026 under Rule 215.

New from 1 October 2026. The Income-tax (Fifth Amendment) Rules, 2026 (Notification No. 121/2026 dated 22 September 2026) add Schedule E to Form 141. A resident individual or HUF buying immovable property from a non-resident can now deposit and report the TDS using their PAN, without obtaining a TAN. For purchases made in October, the first Form 141 under this route is due on 30 November 2026.

Old vs New Income-tax Form Numbers

Many people still search by the old form numbers. This table maps the forms used this month to their predecessors under the Income-tax Rules, 1962.

GST Deadlines — October 2026

October follows the end of a quarter, so the quarterly QRMP returns, the composition statement and the half-yearly job-work return all fall due alongside the monthly cycle. The monthly GSTR-3B is due on Tuesday 20 October 2026, which is Dussehra (Vijayadashami), a central government holiday. The portal runs on all days and no notification moves the date, so file on the 20th or earlier; if tax is paid through a channel that needs a bank working day, complete it on Monday 19 October. GSTR-1A, available once the September GSTR-1 is filed and until the September GSTR-3B is filed (Rule 59(4A)), remains the only route to correct outward liability, which is locked in GSTR-3B.

Two monthly items have no October date. PMT-06 is not paid for the third month of a quarter, because QRMP taxpayers pay that month’s tax through the quarterly GSTR-3B, and the IFF is not available for the last month of a quarter either. GSTR-11 has no statutory due date, since Rule 82 ties it to the refund claim.

Two later dates are worth planning now. Input tax credit on invoices of FY 2025-26 can be taken only until 30 November 2026 or the filing of the annual return, whichever is earlier, under Section 16(4), and the same cut-off applies to declaring credit notes for that year under Section 34(2). The GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C annual filings for FY 2025-26 are due 31 December 2026 under Section 44. Taxpayers with aggregate turnover up to ₹2 crore are exempt from GSTR-9 (Notification No. 15/2025–Central Tax), and GSTR-9C applies only above ₹5 crore.

The three-year bar. Under Sections 37(5), 39(11), 44(2) and 52(14) of the CGST Act, a return cannot be filed once three years have passed from its due date, and the GST portal has enforced this since the July 2025 tax period. Returns for September 2023 and for the July–September 2023 quarter reach this limit in October 2026, so anything still pending from that period must be filed before its three-year date, or it can never be filed.

ROC, Company & LLP — October 2026

October is when the 30 September AGM turns into filings. A company that adopted its FY 2025-26 accounts on that date has 15 days to file ADT-1 where an auditor was appointed or reappointed, 30 days to file AOC-4, and 60 days to file the annual return. LLPs file their Statement of Account and Solvency in the same week. The Companies Compliance Facilitation Scheme, 2026 (CCFS-2026), introduced by Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) General Circular No. 01/2026 dated 24 February 2026, closed on 15 September 2026 after its last extension by General Circular No. 04/2026 dated 31 August 2026, and no further extension has been issued, so overdue forms now attract the ordinary additional fee.

The AGM date drives all of this. Where the Registrar allowed an extension of up to three months under the proviso to Section 96(1) and the AGM is held later, the 30-day and 60-day clocks run from the actual meeting. Where no AGM was held at all, the accounts still have to be filed under Section 137(2) within 30 days of the last date by which the meeting should have been held, with a statement of facts and reasons, and the annual return follows under Section 92(4) on the same footing. That is 30 October 2026 for a company that should have met by 30 September.

Director KYC is not an October item. Since 31 March 2026 it has been a triennial filing in Form DIR-3 KYC Web due 30 June, under the substituted Rule 12A of the Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Rules, 2014 (G.S.R. 943(E) dated 31 December 2025), and only a change of mobile number, email address or residential address triggers a filing within thirty days. Event-based company filings sit outside this table by nature, because an allotment, a charge, a change in directors or a resolution under Section 117 carries its own clock from the date of the event.

EPF & ESI — October 2026

Both contributions for September wages fall on Thursday 15 October 2026, an ordinary working day. Provident fund compliance runs under the Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme, 2026, notified by G.S.R. 525(E) dated 29 June 2026 under the Code on Social Security, 2020 (in force since 21 November 2025), and October also brings the close of this year’s one-time enrolment window.

The enrolment campaign is the one item where acting this month clearly pays off. An employer who finds unregistered workers after 31 October 2026 regularises them on ordinary terms, paying the employee’s share and the full damages that the campaign would have waived.

RBI & FEMA — October 2026

October has one recurring FEMA date and no new one-time filing. The next annual FEMA return, the Annual Performance Report, falls due in December.

Professional Tax — October 2026

Professional tax is state law, and filing frequency can turn on registration type, employee count, the previous year’s liability and local notifications. The table gives the indicative October date for six states and names the governing provision where one was confirmed; treat it as a planning aid and check your state portal before filing. In Karnataka the 20th is Dussehra this year, and in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh the 10th is a Saturday.

Tamil Nadu has no October date. Its half-year from April to September was payable by 30 September 2026, and the October to March half falls due at the end of March.

Late Fees and Penalties — Quick Reference

The figures below are the ordinary positions and are meant for planning; compute the actual liability on the respective portal, and read each row against your own facts, because caps and exceptions apply. The statute split matters here more than in any other month. The audit and transfer pricing consequences for FY 2025-26 stay under the Income-tax Act, 1961, preserved by Section 536(2) of the 2025 Act, while TDS and TCS consequences for FY 2026-27 run under the Income-tax Act, 2025.

Coming Up in November 2026

Plan for these dates now, because several of them depend on work you finish in October.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are the questions we are asked most often about the October 2026 due dates.

Conclusion

October 2026 is a month with a moved deadline and a crowded last weekend. The CBDT extension gives audited assessees until 21 October for the audit report and 21 November for the return, but transfer pricing cases keep 31 October and 30 November, and the circular is silent on interest on unpaid tax. Everything else converges on 30 and 31 October: AOC-4 after the AGM, LLP Form 8, MSME-1, Form 3CEB and the second-quarter TDS and TCS statements, with the 31st falling on a Saturday.

Three things are worth checking twice. The first is whether any associated-enterprise transaction takes you outside the audit extension. The second is the TCS statement date, which is 31 October under the 2026 Rules and not 15 October. The third is the EPF enrolment campaign, which closes on 31 October and will not be available on the same terms afterwards. If you want the month handled end to end, whether that is the tax audit and return, the Q2 TDS and TCS statements, AOC-4 and MSME-1 after the AGM or the LLP Form 8, Setindiabiz’s process experts can take it on. Speak to our team to get your October filings done on time.