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Company Law — Guides & Insights from RDA

Company-law work is mostly about not missing the deadlines that quietly accumulate fines, and about getting the resolutions and disclosures right the first time. The pieces below cover the annual ROC filings, director KYC, share allotment, and the founder-stage decisions that have downstream MCA consequences.

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The Registered Office, Explained: Section 12, INC-22 & What Actually Qualifies (India 2026)
Company LawRegistered Office
8 July 20269 min read

The Registered Office, Explained: Section 12, INC-22 & What Actually Qualifies (India 2026)

The registered office fixes which ROC your company answers to, the stamp duty you pay, and your tax jurisdiction — it is not just an address for post. The practical guide to getting it right at incorporation: Section 12, the two ways to declare it (SPICe+ or INC-22), the proof documents, whether a home or co-working address works, the display and physical-verification rules, and the ₹1,000-a-day penalty for getting it wrong.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Converting a Partnership Firm into an LLP: The Section 55 Route, Form 17 and What Actually Changes (India 2026)
Business SetupPartnership to LLP
8 July 202610 min read

Converting a Partnership Firm into an LLP: The Section 55 Route, Form 17 and What Actually Changes (India 2026)

A partnership firm is cheap and simple — but every partner's personal assets are on the hook for the firm's debts, and the firm dies when a partner leaves. Converting to an LLP fixes both without starting a new business: same partners, same work, but limited liability and perpetual succession. The Section 55 route, Form 17 and the certified statement, what vests automatically under Section 58, the pre-conversion liabilities that stay personal, and why the conversion is tax-neutral because an LLP is taxed as a firm.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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12A and 80G, Explained: The Two Registrations That Decide Whether Your NGO — and Its Donors — Pay Tax (Form 10A / 10AB, India 2026)
12A80G
8 July 202611 min read

12A and 80G, Explained: The Two Registrations That Decide Whether Your NGO — and Its Donors — Pay Tax (Form 10A / 10AB, India 2026)

Setting up a trust, society or Section 8 company is the easy part; what actually decides whether your non-profit keeps its money, and whether donors get a tax break, is a pair of income-tax registrations that everyone confuses. 12AB exempts the organisation's own income; 80G rewards the people who donate to it. How each works, the provisional-then-final regime on Form 10A and 10AB, the 3-year / 5-year (now 10-year) validity and the six-months-before-expiry renewal clock, the 85% application rule, the 80G 50% deduction and its limits, and the Form 10BD / 10BE donation reporting without which your donors simply cannot claim.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Declaring a Dividend in a Private Limited Company: Section 123, the Free-Reserve Rule, Interim vs Final, TDS After DDT, and the Unpaid-Dividend Trap (India 2026)
Company LawDividend
8 July 202611 min read

Declaring a Dividend in a Private Limited Company: Section 123, the Free-Reserve Rule, Interim vs Final, TDS After DDT, and the Unpaid-Dividend Trap (India 2026)

Your company made a profit and you want to take some home. Don't just transfer the money — that's a director's loan or a tax problem. The clean route is a dividend, and it runs on its own rulebook. Where a dividend can legally come from under Section 123, the Rule 3 caps for a lean year, interim versus final and who declares each, the five-day account and thirty-day payment deadlines, how dividends are taxed now that DDT is abolished (Section 194 TDS at 10% over ₹10,000), and the Section 124 escalator that sends unclaimed dividends — and the shares — to the IEPF after seven years.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Voluntary Liquidation of a Company: The Section 59 IBC Wind-Up, Step by Step (India 2026)
Company LawVoluntary Liquidation
8 July 202610 min read

Voluntary Liquidation of a Company: The Section 59 IBC Wind-Up, Step by Step (India 2026)

Strike-off only works for an empty shell. The moment your company has cash, assets, creditors or a trading history, you have to close it through voluntary liquidation under Section 59 of the IBC — a liquidator-led process that ends in an NCLT dissolution order. The declaration of solvency, the special resolution, the 270/90-day timeline and how it differs from strike-off.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Corporate Social Responsibility Under Section 135: Who It Catches, the 2% Rule and the Penalties (India 2026)
Company LawCSR
8 July 202610 min read

Corporate Social Responsibility Under Section 135: Who It Catches, the 2% Rule and the Penalties (India 2026)

The moment a company crosses ₹5 crore in net profit — or ₹500 crore net worth, or ₹1,000 crore turnover — CSR under Section 135 kicks in, and 2% of profit stops being the shareholders' to keep. The three triggers, how the 2% of Section 198 net profit is computed, the CSR committee and the ₹50 lakh relief, Schedule VII and Form CSR-1, the unspent-CSR account rules, the Section 135(7) penalties, and the tax sting: CSR spend is not deductible.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Closing a Defunct LLP: The Form 24 Strike-Off, and Why an Abandoned LLP Keeps Costing You (India 2026)
Company LawLLP
8 July 20269 min read

Closing a Defunct LLP: The Form 24 Strike-Off, and Why an Abandoned LLP Keeps Costing You (India 2026)

Register an LLP, walk away, and it doesn't just fade — it keeps owing Form 8 and Form 11 every year, and the late fee runs at ₹100 per day per form with no cap. A neglected LLP quietly builds a penalty past ₹1 lakh. The fix is to close it properly: a Rule 37 strike-off with Form 24 for a clean, defunct LLP. The eligibility gates, the overdue-filings catch, the CA-certified nil statement and the affidavit-indemnity, and when you have to take the Sections 63–65 winding-up route instead.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Buyback of Shares Under Section 68: How It Works, and Why the Tax Flipped to the Shareholder in 2024 (India 2026)
Company LawBuyback
8 July 202610 min read

Buyback of Shares Under Section 68: How It Works, and Why the Tax Flipped to the Shareholder in 2024 (India 2026)

A buyback isn't one shareholder selling to another — it's the company buying its own shares out of its reserves and cancelling them, under Sections 68-70 with strict limits. The permitted sources, the 25% quantum and the board-vs-special-resolution routes, the 2:1 debt test, the SH-8/SH-9/SH-11 forms and 7-day extinguishment, the cooling-off rules — and the big change: from 1 October 2024 the buyback is taxed as a deemed dividend in the shareholder's hands, not at the company. Why buyback, dividend and secondary sale now sit at different tax outcomes.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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The Import Export Code Nobody Renews — Until Customs Blocks Their Shipment: IEC Registration & the Annual Update Rule (India 2026)
IECImport Export Code
4 July 20268 min read

The Import Export Code Nobody Renews — Until Customs Blocks Their Shipment: IEC Registration & the Annual Update Rule (India 2026)

The Import Export Code is easy to get once and easy to forget — which is exactly the trap. Since the rules changed, an IEC you never touch again can be silently switched off, and you find out when a shipment is stuck at the port. What an IEC is, who actually needs one, how to register on the DGFT portal, and the mandatory 1 April–30 June annual update that keeps it alive.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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The Import Export Code Nobody Renews Has a Food-Business Cousin: FSSAI Registration, the New 2026 Thresholds & the Licence That Never Expires (India 2026)
FSSAIFood License
4 July 20269 min read

The Import Export Code Nobody Renews Has a Food-Business Cousin: FSSAI Registration, the New 2026 Thresholds & the Licence That Never Expires (India 2026)

The FSSAI rulebook changed on 1 April 2026 — the turnover slabs that decide whether you need a simple registration or a full State licence jumped more than tenfold, and FSSAI licences stopped expiring. What an FSSAI licence is, the new Basic / State / Central thresholds, the importers and e-commerce sellers who need a Central licence no matter how small, the 14-digit number you must display, and the perpetual-validity change that rewired the whole system.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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The Shares He Owned But Could No Longer Sell: Rule 9B and the Demat Deadline That Already Passed (India 2026)
Company LawRule 9B
4 July 202610 min read

The Shares He Owned But Could No Longer Sell: Rule 9B and the Demat Deadline That Already Passed (India 2026)

Since Rule 9B, physical share certificates in a non-small private company have quietly stopped working — you can't transfer them, and the company can't issue fresh shares, bonus, rights or a buyback until they're in demat form. Who's caught, what compliance takes (RTA, ISIN, PAS-6), and what it costs now that the 30 June 2025 deadline has passed.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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The LLP That Owed Over a Lakh Without Earning a Rupee: Form 11, Form 8 & the ₹100-a-Day Meter That Doesn't Care If You Traded (India 2026)
LLPForm 11
4 July 20269 min read

The LLP That Owed Over a Lakh Without Earning a Rupee: Form 11, Form 8 & the ₹100-a-Day Meter That Doesn't Care If You Traded (India 2026)

An LLP is sold as the low-compliance structure — so founders register one, do no business, and assume nothing is due. But Form 11 and Form 8 are due every year regardless of turnover, and late filing runs at ₹100 per day, per form, with no cap. The two forms, their due dates, the audit threshold, and why dormant LLPs get so expensive.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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How to Reserve a Company Name in India: RUN, SPICe+ Part A & the Naming Rules (2026)
Company LawCompany Name
4 July 20269 min read

How to Reserve a Company Name in India: RUN, SPICe+ Part A & the Naming Rules (2026)

Name rejection is the quiet delay in most incorporations. The practical guide to reserving a company name that clears the first time — RUN vs SPICe+ Part A, the Rule 8 resemblance test and everything the MCA disregards, the Rule 8A/8B undesirable and restricted words, the trademark trap, the ₹1,000 fee and two-name limit, and the 20-day validity clock.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Shop & Establishment (Gumasta) Registration in Maharashtra: The 2025 Rule That Changed Who Actually Needs to Register (2026)
Business SetupShop Act
4 July 20268 min read

Shop & Establishment (Gumasta) Registration in Maharashtra: The 2025 Rule That Changed Who Actually Needs to Register (2026)

"Every shop needs a Gumasta" stopped being true on 1 October 2025. A Maharashtra amendment raised the registration threshold from 10 to 20 workers — so establishments with fewer than 20 workers now only file an intimation, not a full registration certificate. What the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Act, 2017 actually requires, the Section 6 registration vs Section 7 intimation split, why so many small businesses register anyway (banks ask for the Shop Act certificate to open a current account), the online process, and validity up to 10 years.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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PTEC or PTRC? The Two-Letter Difference in Maharashtra Professional Tax That Trips Up Every New Business (2026)
Business SetupProfessional Tax
4 July 20267 min read

PTEC or PTRC? The Two-Letter Difference in Maharashtra Professional Tax That Trips Up Every New Business (2026)

Professional tax in Maharashtra is a tiny tax — a few thousand rupees a year — with an outsized capacity to generate notices, because there are two near-identical registrations and new businesses take one and forget the other. PTEC (Professional Tax Enrolment Certificate) is how the entity and each director pay their own ₹2,500 a year; PTRC (Professional Tax Registration Certificate) is how an employer deducts tax from staff salaries. The PTRC slabs (₹175/₹200 a month, women exempt up to ₹25,000/month since April 2023), the 30-day enrolment rule, monthly vs annual returns, and why a company with staff needs both.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Two Numbers — 20 and 10 — Decide When Your Payroll Stops Being Just Salary: EPF & ESIC Registration for Companies (2026)
Business SetupEPF
4 July 20269 min read

Two Numbers — 20 and 10 — Decide When Your Payroll Stops Being Just Salary: EPF & ESIC Registration for Companies (2026)

As a startup hires, a payroll law switches itself on in the background — and the notice, when it comes, is backdated with interest and damages. EPF becomes compulsory at 20 employees, ESIC at 10. EPF is 12% employee + 12% employer (the employer's share split 8.33% to pension, capped at ₹1,250, and 3.67% to PF) on wages up to the ₹15,000 ceiling; ESIC is 0.75% employee + 3.25% employer on gross up to ₹21,000 (₹25,000 for persons with disability). The Shram Suvidha common registration, the 15-days-to-register and 15th-of-the-month rhythm, the sticky-threshold trap, and why registering late costs so much more.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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The Signature That Expired Without Telling Anyone: A Founder's Guide to the Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) in India (2026)
Business SetupDigital Signature Certificate
4 July 20268 min read

The Signature That Expired Without Telling Anyone: A Founder's Guide to the Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) in India (2026)

The DSC is the quiet dependency underneath almost every company filing — and most founders only learn how it works the first time it fails at a deadline. What a Digital Signature Certificate is and why it is legally valid under the IT Act, 2000; why Class 2 was discontinued from 1 January 2021 and Class 3 is now the only class; individual vs organisation and sign vs combo; the video + Aadhaar eKYC process, the FIPS token and 1/2/3-year validity; everywhere it is used (SPICe+, DIN, DIR-3 KYC, AOC-4/MGT-7, income tax, GST, DGFT); the portal-registration step everyone forgets; and the three things — silent expiry, unregistered/PAN-mismatch, and emSigner errors — that reliably go wrong.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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How to Register a Sole Proprietorship in India: The Truth About the Entity You Don't Actually Register (2026)
Business SetupSole Proprietorship
4 July 20268 min read

How to Register a Sole Proprietorship in India: The Truth About the Entity You Don't Actually Register (2026)

Most people who start out on their own in India run a sole proprietorship — and there is a myth that you go somewhere and "register" one. You don't. A proprietorship is not a registered legal entity: the business and you share one PAN. What you actually do is take a bundle of registrations that give it an operational identity — GST (₹40L goods / ₹20L services), free Udyam, the Maharashtra Shop Act within 30 days, professional tax, a current account. How a proprietor is taxed at slab rates on ITR-3/ITR-4, and the unlimited-liability catch that tells you when to graduate.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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How to Register a Partnership Firm in India: The Deed That Quietly Decides Everything (2026)
Business SetupPartnership Firm
4 July 20268 min read

How to Register a Partnership Firm in India: The Deed That Quietly Decides Everything (2026)

The moment two people share a business's profits, Indian law treats them as a partnership — deed or no deed, registered or not. But almost everything about how a firm behaves is decided by the partnership deed, and registration with the Registrar of Firms is optional yet decisive: Section 69 stops an unregistered firm from enforcing its own contracts in court. How a firm is taxed as a separate entity (flat 30%, ITR-5, Section 10(2A) partner-share exemption, Section 40(b) remuneration and the new Section 194T TDS from 1 Apr 2025), and the unlimited joint-and-several liability that tells you when to move to an LLP.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Trademark Registration in India: You Registered the Company, But You Still Don't Own the Name (2026)
Business SetupTrademark
4 July 20269 min read

Trademark Registration in India: You Registered the Company, But You Still Don't Own the Name (2026)

Incorporating a company protects the company name at the MCA — it does nothing to stop a competitor using your brand in the market. Only a trademark does that. Under the Trade Marks Act, 1999: what registration buys you over common-law passing off (Sections 28/29 vs 27), who can apply, the 45 Nice classes and per-class fees (₹4,500 concessional for individuals/startups/MSMEs vs ₹9,000), the Form TM-A process through examination (Sections 9/11), Journal advertisement and the four-month opposition window (Section 21), the ™-on-filing / ®-on-registration line, and the ten-year renewable validity via Form TM-R.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Converting an LLP into a Private Limited Company: The Bridge to Raising Equity (India 2026)
Business SetupCompany Conversion
4 July 202610 min read

Converting an LLP into a Private Limited Company: The Bridge to Raising Equity (India 2026)

An LLP can't issue shares, run a proper ESOP or take CCPS from investors — so the moment a fund is interested, founders hit a wall. You don't wind up and start again: an LLP is registered as a company under Section 366 with Form URC-1. The unanimous-consent and URC-2 newspaper steps, what vests automatically, the fresh PAN/TAN and licence handover, and the Section 47(xiii) conditions that keep the conversion tax-neutral with losses carried forward under Section 72A.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Registering a One Person Company (OPC): Solo-Founder Incorporation, the Nominee Rule and SPICe+ (India 2026)
Business SetupOne Person Company
4 July 202610 min read

Registering a One Person Company (OPC): Solo-Founder Incorporation, the Nominee Rule and SPICe+ (India 2026)

A sole proprietorship exposes your personal assets; a private limited company needs two shareholders. The One Person Company closes the gap — a real company, with limited liability, that one Indian individual can own outright. Section 2(62) and what an OPC actually is, the mandatory nominee (Form INC-3), who is eligible (120-day residency, NRIs now allowed, one OPC per person), the SPICe+ filing, the Section 8 / NBFC restrictions, and the 2021 rule change that removed the forced-conversion ceiling.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Changing Your Company's Auditor: Resignation, Removal and the Forms Each One Needs (India 2026)
Company LawAuditor
4 July 20269 min read

Changing Your Company's Auditor: Resignation, Removal and the Forms Each One Needs (India 2026)

A statutory auditor is appointed for five years, so you cannot swap one out on a whim. The four ways an auditor actually leaves — resignation (Form ADT-3 within 30 days), the casual vacancy it creates under Section 139(8), a mid-term removal that needs a special resolution plus Central Government approval on Form ADT-2, and simply not re-appointing them at the AGM with special notice under Section 140(4) — and exactly what you file each time.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Altering Your MOA and AOA: Changing the Objects Clause and Articles with Form MGT-14 (India 2026)
Company LawMOA
4 July 202610 min read

Altering Your MOA and AOA: Changing the Objects Clause and Articles with Form MGT-14 (India 2026)

A company can only do what its Memorandum permits and must govern itself the way its Articles say — so adding a new business activity or rewriting an internal rule means formally altering the founding documents. Changing the objects clause (Section 13, effective only on the Registrar's registration), altering the Articles (Section 14, including private-to-public conversion), the entrenchment safeguard under Section 5, and the Form MGT-14 filing within 30 days that ties nearly all of it together.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Transfer and Transmission of Shares in a Private Limited Company: Form SH-4, the Stamp Duty Split, Death and Transmission, and the Section 58 Refusal (India 2026)
Company LawShare Transfer
4 July 202612 min read

Transfer and Transmission of Shares in a Private Limited Company: Form SH-4, the Stamp Duty Split, Death and Transmission, and the Section 58 Refusal (India 2026)

You can't just sell your private-company shares to whoever you like — the Articles restrict it, and moving shares runs on a specific form, a stamp duty most people get wrong, and a Companies Act deadline. How share transfer works via Form SH-4 under Section 56, the physical (0.25%) versus demat (0.015%) stamp duty split, the Section 2(68) right of first refusal, what transmission on death actually needs (no SH-4, no stamp duty), and the Section 58 appeal to the NCLT when a company refuses to register.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Starting a Business in India (2026): Choosing the Right Structure, Cost, and Compliance
Business SetupIncorporation
3 July 202613 min read

Starting a Business in India (2026): Choosing the Right Structure, Cost, and Compliance

Proprietorship, partnership, LLP, OPC or Private Limited — the structure you pick on day one shapes your tax, your liability, and whether you can raise money later. This is the working guide we use at the bench: how the five structures compare, what incorporation actually costs and takes, the first-year compliance calendar, and the Startup India benefits worth claiming.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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OPC vs Private Limited in India 2026: The Solo Founder's Structure Decision
OPCOne Person Company
3 July 202610 min read

OPC vs Private Limited in India 2026: The Solo Founder's Structure Decision

A founder starting alone can incorporate a One Person Company or a Private Limited Company — both give limited liability and a separate legal identity. The choice turns on one question: will you raise external equity or bring in a co-founder? This guide clears up the biggest myth (an OPC does not save tax), covers the 2021 reform that removed the OPC growth ceiling, and gives the decision in one line.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Proprietorship vs Partnership vs LLP vs OPC vs Private Limited: Which Business Structure Should You Choose? (India 2026)
Business SetupLLP
3 July 202612 min read

Proprietorship vs Partnership vs LLP vs OPC vs Private Limited: Which Business Structure Should You Choose? (India 2026)

The first decision every founder makes — and the one most people get wrong, choosing on setup cost instead of where the business is going. A full comparison of India's five business structures on what actually decides the choice: personal liability, the ability to raise equity and issue ESOPs, tax rates and the annual compliance load.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Registering an LLP: The FiLLiP Walkthrough, Start to Finish (India 2026)
Company LawLLP
3 July 20268 min read

Registering an LLP: The FiLLiP Walkthrough, Start to Finish (India 2026)

The practical walkthrough of registering a Limited Liability Partnership through FiLLiP — the MCA form that reserves the name, incorporates the LLP and allots the DPINs in one filing. What you prepare, the partner rules, the Form 9 consents, the PAN and TAN you get, the 30-day Form 3 LLP Agreement, and the light annual load of Form 11 and Form 8.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Setting Up an Indian Subsidiary: How a Foreign Company Registers Its India Arm (2026)
Company LawForeign Subsidiary
3 July 20269 min read

Setting Up an Indian Subsidiary: How a Foreign Company Registers Its India Arm (2026)

How an overseas company opens its India arm — a wholly-owned Private Limited subsidiary incorporated through SPICe+. The two layers a domestic founder never touches: the FDI rules on the way in (automatic vs government route, the land-border approval), and the RBI reporting that follows the money (Form FC-GPR within 30 days of allotment, the annual FLA return), plus the Section 149(3) resident-director requirement that catches groups with nobody on the ground.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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MSME Registration and the 45-Day Payment Rule: Udyam, Section 43B(h) and Why It Matters Both Ways (India 2026)
Business SetupMSME
3 July 20269 min read

MSME Registration and the 45-Day Payment Rule: Udyam, Section 43B(h) and Why It Matters Both Ways (India 2026)

Udyam registration cuts both ways. As a supplier it puts a legal 45-day clock on everyone who buys from you; as a buyer, the same rule can cost you a tax deduction if a vendor is a registered micro or small enterprise and you pay late. The revised 2025 classification limits, how the free Udyam registration works, the MSMED Act delayed-payment protection (Section 15 and Section 16), and the Section 43B(h) disallowance that catches profitable companies off guard.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Turning Your Proprietorship or Partnership into a Private Limited Company: How Conversion Actually Works (India 2026)
Business SetupCompany Conversion
3 July 20269 min read

Turning Your Proprietorship or Partnership into a Private Limited Company: How Conversion Actually Works (India 2026)

Outgrown your proprietorship or firm? "Converting" it into a Private Limited company is a structured succession, not a switch — and doing it carelessly triggers capital-gains tax and a GST cost on your own assets. The proprietorship takeover route and Section 47(xiv), the partnership statutory conversion under Section 366 and Form URC-1 with Section 47(xiii), the 50%-for-five-years condition that keeps it tax-neutral, and the going-concern GST exemption with the ITC-02 carry-over.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Section 8 Companies: How to Register a Non-Profit That the Law and Donors Both Take Seriously (India 2026)
Business SetupSection 8 Company
3 July 20269 min read

Section 8 Companies: How to Register a Non-Profit That the Law and Donors Both Take Seriously (India 2026)

A Section 8 company is the non-profit vehicle serious funders and CSR donors trust most, precisely because it is a company — full Companies Act governance, no dividends to founders, Registrar oversight. The Central Government licence, the integrated SPICe+ filing that replaced the old INC-12, the privileges Section 8 grants in return, and the 12AB / 80G / CSR-1 / FCRA registrations that turn the shell into something a donor can actually fund.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Registering a Charge: The 30-Day Filing Your Secured Loan Triggers (Form CHG-1, India 2026)
Company LawCharge Registration
3 July 20268 min read

Registering a Charge: The 30-Day Filing Your Secured Loan Triggers (Form CHG-1, India 2026)

The day a company takes a secured loan it creates a charge — and a 30-day clock starts at the Registrar that most founders never hear about. Form CHG-1 and the Section 77 duty to register, the expensive day-31-to-120 windows if you are late, why an unregistered charge is ignored by a liquidator, and the Form CHG-4 satisfaction filing everyone forgets when the loan is finally repaid.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Moving Your Company's Registered Office: The Four Filings, One Per Distance (INC-22 / INC-23, India 2026)
Company LawRegistered Office
3 July 20268 min read

Moving Your Company's Registered Office: The Four Filings, One Per Distance (INC-22 / INC-23, India 2026)

The address on your incorporation certificate is a legal fact, and changing it triggers a filing whose difficulty depends on how far you move. The four rings — a board resolution and INC-22 within the same city; a special resolution for a move within the same Registrar; Regional Director approval in INC-23 to cross from Mumbai's ROC to Pune's; and the full Section 13 memorandum alteration, INC-26 advertisement and INC-28 order to shift states.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Who Really Owns Your Company? The SBO Declaration Layered Ownership Triggers (Form BEN-2, India 2026)
Company LawSignificant Beneficial Owner
3 July 20269 min read

Who Really Owns Your Company? The SBO Declaration Layered Ownership Triggers (Form BEN-2, India 2026)

Not whose name is on the share register — the actual individual who ultimately controls the company, even through a holding company, LLP or trust. Since 2018 that is a compliance obligation under Section 90. Who counts as a significant beneficial owner, why the word 'indirectly' carries all the weight, the BEN-1 to BEN-4 forms, the proactive duty on the company itself, and the NCLT power to freeze the shares of an owner who will not declare.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Changing Your Company's Name: The RUN, the Resolution and the Fresh Certificate (Form INC-24, India 2026)
Company LawName Change
3 July 20268 min read

Changing Your Company's Name: The RUN, the Resolution and the Fresh Certificate (Form INC-24, India 2026)

The name is a clause in the company's constitution, so changing it runs through the Registrar, a shareholder vote and a fresh certificate of incorporation — not just a new logo. The Section 13 alteration, the Rule 29 default that silently blocks a name change before you start, the RUN name reservation, the special resolution and MGT-14, the Form INC-24 approval, and the Form INC-25 fresh certificate that makes it effective.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Increasing Your Company's Authorised Capital: The Ceiling You Must Raise Before You Issue Shares (Form SH-7, India 2026)
Company LawAuthorised Capital
3 July 20267 min read

Increasing Your Company's Authorised Capital: The Ceiling You Must Raise Before You Issue Shares (Form SH-7, India 2026)

Most companies incorporate with a small authorised capital and never revisit it — until a funding round hits the ceiling and no new share can be issued until it is raised. The Section 61 ordinary resolution, why the articles must permit it first, the Form SH-7 filing within 30 days, the one form (MGT-14) that is not required, the stamp duty that scales with the increase, and why raising the ceiling still does not issue a single share.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Can Your Company Lend Money to You? Loans to Directors and Group Companies (Sections 185 & 186, India 2026)
Company LawLoan to Directors
3 July 20269 min read

Can Your Company Lend Money to You? Loans to Directors and Group Companies (Sections 185 & 186, India 2026)

The most common thing founders get wrong about a private limited company: the cash in the company account is not yours to lend to yourself. Section 185 is a flat prohibition on lending to directors, their relatives and their firms; Section 185(2) opens a conditional door for a company you are interested in; and Section 186 caps how much your company can lend to or invest in other companies. The 60%/100% ceiling, the special resolutions, the Government-security interest rate, and the jail-exposure penalty.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Paying Rent to a Director, Buying from a Group Firm: The Related Party Transaction Rules (Section 188, India 2026)
Company LawRelated Party Transactions
3 July 20269 min read

Paying Rent to a Director, Buying from a Group Firm: The Related Party Transaction Rules (Section 188, India 2026)

You rent office space from a director, buy material from a co-founder's firm, or pay a relative for services — all normal, all related party transactions. Section 188 decides which need a board resolution, which need a shareholder vote, and which are exempt as ordinary-course-and-arm's-length. The seven categories, the arm's-length relief that covers most day-to-day deals, the Rule 15(3) 10%-of-turnover thresholds, the member who cannot vote (and the private-company exemption), and why an unapproved deal is voidable.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Board Meetings, the AGM, Minutes and Registers: The Governance Rhythm Every Private Limited Company Must Keep (India 2026)
Company LawBoard Meeting
3 July 20269 min read

Board Meetings, the AGM, Minutes and Registers: The Governance Rhythm Every Private Limited Company Must Keep (India 2026)

A company can file every form on time and still be non-compliant. Underneath the filings sits a year-round rhythm: the board must meet, the shareholders must hold the AGM, someone must write the minutes, and the company must keep its registers. The Section 173 board cadence (four a year, 120-day gap; one-per-half for start-ups), the Section 96 AGM windows (nine months for the first, six thereafter), the Section 118 minutes and mandatory Secretarial Standards, and the Section 88 register of members — the machinery that makes every resolution valid.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Appointing Your Company's First Auditor: The 30-Day Deadline and Form ADT-1 (India 2026)
Company LawAuditor Appointment
3 July 20268 min read

Appointing Your Company's First Auditor: The 30-Day Deadline and Form ADT-1 (India 2026)

A new Private Limited company's first statutory deadline lands within thirty days of incorporation — appointing its first auditor under Section 139(6). The thirty-day board appointment, the Form ADT-1 that used to be skipped for the first auditor and, since 14 July 2025, no longer can be, the five-year appointment at the first AGM, casual vacancies, and the Section 147 penalty for getting it wrong.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Issuing New Shares in Your Private Limited Company: Rights Issue, Preferential Allotment and the PAS-3 Return (India 2026)
Company LawShare Allotment
3 July 20269 min read

Issuing New Shares in Your Private Limited Company: Rights Issue, Preferential Allotment and the PAS-3 Return (India 2026)

Bringing in an investor or new capital means issuing shares — and that runs through a defined procedure, not a spreadsheet entry. Checking authorised-capital headroom (Section 61, Form SH-7), the three Section 62 routes (rights issue, ESOP, preferential allotment), the private-placement machinery under Section 42 (PAS-4 offer, the 200-person limit, the 60-day allotment clock), and the Form PAS-3 return that must be filed before the money can be used.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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The Loan You Forgot to Report: Form DPT-3 and the Return of Deposits (India 2026)
Company LawDPT-3
3 July 20268 min read

The Loan You Forgot to Report: Form DPT-3 and the Return of Deposits (India 2026)

Almost every young company runs on a director's loan for a while — and almost none realise that money has to be reported to the Registrar every year in Form DPT-3. Why 'we have no deposits' is precisely the wrong assumption, the exempt receipts a private company can take (director and relative loans with the not-borrowed declaration, inter-corporate loans, share application money, advances), the 30 June annual return under Rule 16, and the penalty for missing it.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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Closing a Private Limited Company: The STK-2 Strike-Off, Done Cleanly (India 2026)
Company LawStrike Off
3 July 20269 min read

Closing a Private Limited Company: The STK-2 Strike-Off, Done Cleanly (India 2026)

A dormant company you have walked away from keeps owing annual filings, racking up uncapped late fees, and heading toward being struck off by the Registrar — with penalties and five-year director disqualification. How to close it properly instead through Form STK-2: who qualifies, what you clear first, the STK-3/STK-8 documents, and the companies Section 249 bars.

CA Rahul DangFounder & Practice Lead
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