Compliance failures are rarely dramatic. Nobody decides to stop filing returns. What happens is that a GST reconciliation is postponed for a quarter, a TDS deduction on a professional fee is missed, an advance tax instalment is estimated too low, and eighteen months later an assessment notice arrives asking about all three at once. By that point the supplier who did not file has moved on, the expenditure has been disallowed, and interest has been running for six quarters.
N D Savla & Associates manages accounting and tax compliance for companies, LLPs and firms across India. We handle monthly bookkeeping, financial statement preparation, GST returns and reconciliation, TDS computation and filing, advance tax, income tax returns, ROC filings and statutory audit coordination as a single managed function with one calendar and one point of accountability.
We operate from Andheri East, Charni Road, Vashi, Thane, New Panvel and Goa, serving founder-led businesses, foreign subsidiaries, professional firms and listed group entities. Where clients also use our MIS and budgeting service or payroll management, the same underlying data supports management reporting and statutory filing rather than being maintained twice in parallel systems.
What Is Accounting and Tax Compliance?
Accounting and tax compliance is the combined function of maintaining accurate books of account and meeting every statutory filing obligation that arises from them, on time and with supporting documentation that survives scrutiny. Every return filed is a representation drawn from the books — an incorrect classification creates wrong TDS treatment, wrong GST input credit, and a wrong income tax computation from one entry.
A properly designed compliance function works backwards from the filings. Chart of accounts structure, expense classification, vendor master data, TDS section mapping and GST rate tagging are set up so that returns can be generated from the books rather than reconstructed alongside them. This is the single largest determinant of whether compliance is routine or perpetually stressful. Our own Accounting and Bookkeeping Services are built on the same principle.
Who Needs Managed Accounting and Tax Compliance?
Growing Private Limited Companies
Businesses that have crossed the GST threshold and hired their first employees face GST, TDS, PF, income tax and Companies Act obligations at once.
Foreign Subsidiaries & Liaison Offices
Local statutory reporting alongside group reporting in a different framework, transfer pricing, and FEMA annual returns require deliberate design.
Professional Firms & Service Businesses
A heavy two-sided TDS burden makes Form 26AS reconciliation a monthly, not annual, activity.
Multi-State Operations
GST is state-wise — six states means six sets of returns, six credit ledgers, and inter-state stock transfer reconciliation.
Businesses Preparing for Investment or Sale
Unreconciled credit and unfiled returns surface during due diligence as quantified valuation exposures.
How Has Tax Compliance Evolved in India?
Before 1991, indirect taxation was a fragmented system of excise, sales tax, octroi and entry taxes, with compliance largely a matter of paperwork and personal interaction with officials. Liberalisation, the PAN system, and expanding TDS shifted the burden toward structured, verifiable compliance through the 1990s and 2000s.
The transformation accelerated after 2010: e-filing became mandatory, Form 26AS automated credit reconciliation, and GST arrived on 1 July 2017, replacing seventeen central and state levies with a single tax built on an invoice-level electronic trail. GSTR-2B now determines input credit eligibility from supplier behaviour, e-invoicing has expanded down to smaller turnovers, and faceless assessment has removed personal interaction from the process. Current utilities are available on the Income Tax Department portal.
Our Step-by-Step Compliance Process
- Set Up the Structure — Chart of accounts, vendor master with PAN and TDS mapping, GST rate and HSN tagging, configured to produce returns rather than parallel workings.
- Build the Compliance Calendar — Every obligation mapped with due date, owner, preparer and reviewer, including state-wise GST registrations.
- Process Transactions Monthly — Purchase and sales recording, expense classification, bank reconciliation and outsourced bookkeeping completed to a fixed cut-off date.
- Reconcile Before Filing — GSTR-2B against purchases, GSTR-1 against sales, TDS against expense ledgers, and Form 26AS against receipts.
- Compute, Review and File — GST returns, TDS returns, advance tax and periodic filings, reviewed by a second person before filing.
- Close the Annual Cycle — Financial statements, tax audit, business income tax return, GSTR-9/9C and ROC filings including Form AOC-4 and MGT-7.
- Report Exceptions and Improve — Monthly exception reporting on non-filing suppliers and unreconciled differences, with root causes fixed in the process.
Practical tip: Chase non-filing suppliers within the same quarter. Input credit lost to a non-filer is commercially recoverable while their next invoice is pending, and effectively irrecoverable a year later.
Key Compliance Due Dates
| Compliance | Frequency | Due Date |
|---|
| GSTR-1 (outward supplies) | Monthly | 11th of the following month |
| GSTR-3B (summary return) | Monthly | 20th of the following month |
| TDS deposit | Monthly | 7th of the following month |
| TDS return (Form 24Q / 26Q) | Quarterly | 31st of the month after quarter end |
| Advance tax instalments | Quarterly | 15 Jun, 15 Sep, 15 Dec, 15 Mar |
| GSTR-9 annual return | Annual | 31 December following the financial year |
| Form AOC-4 and MGT-7 | Annual | 30 and 60 days from the AGM respectively |
Failure to deduct TDS results in disallowance of 30% of the related expenditure under Section 40(a)(ia). On a ?50 lakh contract payment, a missed deduction of ?1 lakh can trigger a disallowance of ?15 lakh.
How Does Compliance Differ by Sector?
Manufacturing & Trading
Input credit volume, job work movement, e-way bills and inter-state stock transfers treated as deemed supplies.
Services & Consulting
Place of supply, export LUT compliance, reverse charge on imports, and two-sided TDS reconciliation.
E-Commerce & Digital
TCS by marketplace operators, equalisation levy, multi-state warehousing registration.
Real Estate & Construction
Concessional GST with restricted credit, RERA reporting, TDS under Section 194-IA, Ind AS 115 revenue recognition.
Most Common Compliance Failures
- Input credit claimed without GSTR-2B verification, later reversed with interest.
- TDS deducted under the wrong section or rate, surfacing only when the deductee flags a mismatch.
- Advance tax estimated on last year's profit, accruing quiet interest under Sections 234B/234C.
- Books closed months late, compounding reconciliation differences.
- Capital expenditure booked as repairs, or personal spend routed through the company.
- No reconciliation between GST turnover, income tax turnover and financial statements.
- Filing acknowledgements not archived, causing gaps when a notice arrives years later.
Why Choose N D Savla & Associates?
- One calendar, one accountable team — GST, TDS, income tax and ROC owned together, not split across providers.
- Reconciliation before filing, always — GSTR-2B, Form 26AS and bank reconciliations completed ahead of every filing.
- Books built for decisions, not just the auditor — the same data supports financial modelling and management reporting.
- Senior review on judgement calls — classification and TDS section questions decided by a partner.
- Scalable resourcing — cover deployed from six offices across the Mumbai region and Goa via our independent professional placement team.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does accounting and tax compliance include for an Indian company?
It covers recording transactions in books of account, preparing financial statements, and filing every statutory return the entity must submit — monthly bookkeeping, GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B, monthly TDS deposit and quarterly TDS returns, quarterly advance tax, the annual income tax return and tax audit where applicable, GSTR-9, and ROC filings in Form AOC-4 and MGT-7.
What are the penalties for late GST and TDS filing in India?
Late GST returns attract a late fee of ?50 per day (?20 for nil returns), subject to caps, plus 18% annual interest on tax paid late. Late TDS deposit attracts 1.5% monthly interest, late TDS return filing attracts ?200 per day under Section 234E, and failure to deduct can disallow 30% of the related expenditure under Section 40(a)(ia).
Which businesses need to maintain books of account under Indian law?
Every company must maintain books under Section 128 of the Companies Act 2013. Under Section 44AA of the Income Tax Act, individuals and firms must maintain books where income exceeds ?2.5 lakh or turnover exceeds ?25 lakh in any of the preceding three years, with lower thresholds for specified professionals. GST-registered persons must additionally maintain records prescribed under Section 35 of the CGST Act.
Should a growing company outsource accounting or build an in-house team?
Most companies below roughly ?50 crore turnover are better served by outsourcing the compliance layer and keeping a small in-house team for transaction processing. A single in-house accountant cannot realistically stay current across GST, TDS, income tax and company law at once.
What is GSTR-2B reconciliation and why does it matter?
GSTR-2B is a static, auto-generated statement of input tax credit based on returns filed by suppliers. Credit can only be claimed where the invoice appears in GSTR-2B and the supplier has paid the tax. Monthly reconciliation catches non-filing suppliers while the issue is still recoverable.