Private Limited Company Registration Checklist

Your Complete Registration Checklist

This is the full list, in the order you should work through it. Four decisions come first, then documents, then the filing, then the first 180 days after incorporation. Most delays and penalties come from skipping the first and last sections, not the middle one. Print this, work down it, and you will not be caught out.

Section 1: Decide before you collect anything

• Confirm a private limited company is the right structure, not an LLP, OPC or proprietorship

• Agree who the directors will be, minimum two

• Agree who the shareholders will be and the exact shareholding split, in percentages

• Confirm at least one director will have stayed in India for 182 days or more in the financial year

• Decide the authorised and subscribed capital, keeping authorised capital modest

• Write down the business activities, including what you expect to add in the next two years

• Fix the registered office address

Changing any of these after filing means refiling. Settle them on paper first.

Section 2: Name

• Shortlist three names in order of preference

• Search the MCA company and LLP name database for conflicts

• Search the trademark register for conflicts

• Check that the name does not suggest a regulated activity or government patronage without approval

• Confirm the name ends with “Private Limited”

Section 3: Documents, for every director and shareholder

• PAN card

• Aadhaar card

• One additional ID: passport, voter ID or driving licence

• Address proof not older than two months, in that person’s own name

• Passport-size photograph

• Mobile number and email ID

• Confirm the name and date of birth match exactly across PAN and Aadhaar

Section 4: Documents, for the registered office

• Latest utility bill for the premises

• Rent agreement or lease deed, if rented

• No Objection Certificate from the owner

• Ownership proof, if owned by a director

• Confirm the address on the bill matches the address you will enter in the form, exactly

Section 5: Filing

• Obtain a Class 3 Digital Signature Certificate for each director and subscriber

• Register each DSC on the MCA V3 portal against the correct DIN or PAN

• File SPICe+ Part A for name reservation, or Part A and Part B together

• File SPICe+ Part B with capital, office, directors and objects

• File e-MOA (INC-33), e-AOA (INC-34), INC-9 and AGILE-PRO-S (INC-35)

• Decide inside AGILE-PRO-S whether to take GST registration now

• Pay stamp duty and submit

• Track the SRN, and respond to any resubmission query within the window

Section 6: The first 180 days, where most founders slip

• Hold the first board meeting and appoint the first statutory auditor, within 30 days of incorporation

• File ADT-1 within 15 days of that appointment

• Open the company bank account

• Receive the subscription money from each shareholder into that account

• Issue share certificates to the subscribers, within two months

• File INC-20A, the declaration of commencement of business, within 180 days of incorporation

• Display the company name at the registered office

• Set up statutory registers and the board meeting calendar

• Register for professional tax, trade licence or sector licences, if applicable

The company cannot commence business until INC-20A is filed, and the penalty for missing it falls on the company and on each director.

Section 7: Ongoing, from year one

• Statutory audit, mandatory regardless of turnover

• AOC-4 with the financial statements

• MGT-7 or MGT-7A, the annual return

• Director KYC for every director

• Company income tax return

• Board meetings as prescribed

How Northrop LLP helps

Northrop LLP works this checklist with you, reviews documents before anything is filed, and hands over a dated first-year compliance calendar at incorporation so Sections 6 and 7 do not become penalties.

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