A proprietorship is not a separate legal person. There is no Registrar, no annual return and no separate registration under any companies or partnership statute — the proprietor and the business are the same person in law, and the business is assessed in the proprietor's own return. What a proprietorship does have is a set of registration-led obligations: GST, tax deduction at source, the State shops and establishments law, and labour law once there are employees.
Registrations and filings
There is no filing with any Registrar of companies or firms. What follows is registration-led: each line applies only if the corresponding registration has been taken, or ought to have been.
| # | Compliance | Due date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Annual filing with a Registrar | None. A proprietorship is not registered under any companies or partnership statute |
| 2 | Shops and Establishments registration under the State Act, and renewal where the State requires it | Registration within thirty days of commencement. Renewal cycles run from one year to lifetime, depending on the State |
| 3 | Udyam registration for a micro, small or medium enterprise | One-time, with the details updated annually from the income tax and GST returns |
| 4 | GST registration | Compulsory once aggregate turnover crosses ₹40 lakh for goods or ₹20 lakh for services, and ₹20 lakh and ₹10 lakh respectively in the special-category States. Registration within thirty days of becoming liable |
| 5 | Tax deduction account number and TDS compliance | Required where the proprietor is liable to deduct tax at source, which for an individual generally arises once the accounts of the preceding year were subject to tax audit |
| 6 | Professional tax enrolment, in the States that levy it | One-time enrolment, with the periodic payment and return prescribed by the State |
| 7 | Trade licence, food licence, drug licence or other sector licence | As applicable to the trade, with renewal on the cycle fixed by the licensing authority |
Because there is no separate entity, the business income is returned in the proprietor's own return of income, and the proprietor's personal position determines the due date.
Meetings
There are none. A proprietorship has no members, no partners and no board, and nothing in law requires a meeting or a minute. That is its principal administrative advantage, and it is worth saying plainly rather than filling this section with obligations that do not exist.
| # | Meeting or obligation | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Any statutory meeting | Not required. There is no separate legal person and no body of members |
| 2 | Internal Committee under the POSH Act | The one body a proprietorship may nevertheless have to constitute — it is required at any workplace with ten or more employees, whatever the form of the business |
| 3 | Records of decisions | Not required by law, but where the business has employees or borrowings, a dated written record of the decisions taken is worth keeping |
Documents required to be drafted
The document set is short. What matters is that the business records are kept distinct from the proprietor's personal ones, because the two are the same person in law and an assessing officer will look at both.
| # | Document | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Books of account under section 44AA of the Income-tax Act, where the income or turnover thresholds are crossed | Maintained through the year |
| 2 | Annual accounts of the business — trading and profit and loss account and balance sheet | For the year ended 31 March |
| 3 | Auditor's report, where a tax audit is attracted | By 30 September |
| 4 | GST records — tax invoices, credit and debit notes, the stock register and the input tax credit reconciliation | Maintained through the year |
| 5 | Employment records — appointment letters, the wage register, the attendance register and the POSH policy, where there are employees | Maintained through the year |
- Books of account under section 44AA of the Income-tax Act, kept for six years from the end of the relevant assessment year.
- GST records, kept for seventy-two months from the due date of the annual return.
- Registers under the State Shops and Establishments Act — the register of employment, the wage register and the leave register, in the form prescribed by the State rules.
- Licences and registration certificates, with their renewal dates diarised.
Taxation and accounting compliances
Alongside the filings with the Registrar, the following tax and accounting compliances commonly apply. Which of them actually bite depends on turnover, on the nature of the receipts and on registration under the respective statute.
| # | Compliance | Due date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Form ITR-3 or Form ITR-4 — return of income of the proprietor. | 31 August where the accounts are not audited; 31 October where they are |
| 2 | Tax audit report in Form 3CB with Form 3CD — where turnover exceeds ₹1 crore, or ₹10 crore where cash receipts and cash payments are each not more than five per cent, or gross receipts from a profession exceed ₹50 lakh, and also where the proprietor opts out of a presumptive scheme having opted into it | 30 September |
| 3 | GST returns — GSTR-1 monthly (11th of the following month) or quarterly under QRMP (13th of the month after the quarter), and GSTR-3B monthly (20th) or quarterly (22nd or 24th, depending on the State group). | Monthly or quarterly, as opted |
| 4 | GSTR-9 — GST annual return, where aggregate turnover exceeds ₹2 crore | 31 December following the financial year |
| 5 | GSTR-9C — self-certified reconciliation statement, where aggregate turnover exceeds ₹5 crore | 31 December following the financial year |
| 6 | TDS returns — Form 24Q (salary), 26Q (resident non-salary) and 27Q (non-resident), by every person holding a TAN | 31 July, 31 October, 31 January and 31 May |
| 7 | TCS return — Form 27EQ, by every person liable to collect tax at source | 15 July, 15 October, 15 January and 15 May |
| 8 | Monthly deposit of TDS and TCS | 7th of the following month; 30 April for March |
| 9 | TDS and TCS certificates — Form 16 (salary), Form 16A and Form 27D | Form 16 by 15 June; Form 16A and 27D within 15 days of the return due date |
| 10 | Advance tax — where the tax liability for the year is ₹10,000 or more, in instalments of 15, 45, 75 and 100 per cent of the estimated liability | 15 June, 15 September, 15 December and 15 March |
Dates are those applicable to the financial year 2025-26 (assessment year 2026-27). The Income-tax Act, 2025 replaces the 1961 Act from tax year 2026-27, and the section numbers in every tax checklist will change from that year — the dates above are stated on the 1961 Act as it applies to this cycle.
Labour law compliances and their applicability
Labour law obligations are triggered by headcount and by wage levels rather than by the form of the entity, so the same table applies whether the employer is a company, an LLP, a firm or a proprietor. The threshold column is what decides whether a line applies at all.
| # | Compliance | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Employees' Provident Fund — monthly ECR and remittance of contributions at 12 per cent by each of employer and employee. Paid by the 15th of the following month. | Establishments employing 20 or more persons. Mandatory coverage up to a wage of ₹15,000 a month; voluntary coverage is possible below the threshold |
| 2 | Employees' State Insurance — monthly contribution and challan at 3.25 per cent (employer) and 0.75 per cent (employee), by the 15th of the following month, and the half-yearly return of contributions where the region still requires it | Establishments employing 10 or more persons (20 in some States for shops). Covers employees drawing wages up to ₹21,000 a month, or ₹25,000 for a person with disability |
| 3 | POSH — constitution of the Internal Committee, a policy, and an awareness and training programme | Every workplace with 10 or more employees, counting all workers of every description. Members hold office for a maximum of three years and must then be reconstituted |
| 4 | POSH annual report to the District Officer, and the disclosure of the number of complaints in the Board's report | Every employer that is required to have an Internal Committee. |
| 5 | Payment of Bonus — payment of the annual bonus and the annual return in Form D | Establishments employing 20 or more persons, for employees drawing up to ₹21,000 a month. Bonus is payable within eight months of the close of the year |
| 6 | Payment of Gratuity — payment on the event, and the notices in Forms A, B and C | Establishments employing 10 or more persons. Payable after five years of continuous service, and after one year for a fixed-term employee |
| 7 | Maternity Benefit — 26 weeks of paid leave, and the registers and returns under the State rules | Establishments employing 10 or more persons. A creche is required at 50 or more |
| 8 | Professional tax — enrolment, registration and the periodic return | Only in the States that levy it — Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala, Assam and others. It is not levied in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan or Punjab |
| 9 | Shops and Establishments — registration and, where the State requires it, renewal | Every shop and commercial establishment, from the day it commences. Registration within 30 days; renewal cycles run from one year to lifetime depending on the State |
| 10 | Contract labour — registration of the principal employer, licensing of the contractor, and the periodic returns | Where 20 or more contract workers are engaged (the threshold is 50 under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020) |
| 11 | Minimum wages — payment at not less than the notified rate, with the variable dearness allowance revision | Every scheduled employment. Central revisions usually take effect on 1 April and 1 October; State cycles differ |
Headcount thresholds are counted across the establishment, not the entity, and several of them are State-specific. Where an entity operates from more than one State the position must be tested State by State.
Event-based compliances
Everything set out above recurs every year. Separately from these, a proprietorship attracts event-based compliances — obligations that arise only when something particular happens, and that usually carry a short deadline running from the date of the event itself rather than from the close of the financial year.
If an event of this kind has occurred, or is being planned, the position should be checked before the deadline rather than after it. Please write to us with what has happened and we will tell you what has to be filed and by when.
Please do not treat this page as advice on your own facts. Before you rely on it, have the position checked against your own constitution documents, your last filed accounts and your actual figures for the year. We would be glad to do that for you.
Have your position checked
Tell us what the entity is and we will confirm exactly which of these apply to you this year, what is already overdue, and what it will cost to put right.
Prepared by MPS & Associates, Company Secretaries, on the law as it stood on 3 August 2026, by reference to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, BSE Limited, the National Stock Exchange of India Limited, the Reserve Bank of India, the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the Goods and Services Tax Network, as applicable. Statutes, rules, thresholds and due dates change. Nothing on this page is professional advice, and no professional relationship arises from reading it. Please see our Disclaimer.