For startups
Raised a funding round? A form is due within days of issuing shares. Investors expect a report every month.
A funding round brings a deadline most founders do not expect. A form reporting your new shares is due within days of issuing them. Until it is filed, you cannot spend the money you raised. Investors then expect a report every month showing your runway and your burn. Before the next round they check your GST returns against your profit and loss, and check your dues are paid. We file the share form on time. We prepare the monthly report. We keep your books ready before the next check happens.
- Every filing is checked before you approve it
- A reply the same working day
- One fixed fee a month
What is different for you
What a general accounting page will not tell you.
Investors expect a report you may not already have.
A monthly report showing cash in hand, runway and burn is standard once you have raised money. Building it for the first time right before a board meeting is a hard way to start.
The next round checks work done today, not later.
Investors doing due diligence match your GST returns to your profit and loss, and check that your tax and other dues are paid. They also look for payments to owners or their other companies that are not recorded clearly. Gaps like these can delay a raise or change its terms.
You cannot use the money until one form is filed.
When you issue shares in a round, a form called PAS-3 tells the ROC about it. It is due within days of the allotment, not months. Until it is filed, the law does not let you spend what you raised. Late filing brings a penalty for each day of delay, on the company and on its directors. If your investor is outside India, a second report goes to the RBI, also on a short deadline.
Stock options create a tax bill on the day they are exercised.
When an employee exercises an option, tax is due through your payroll straight away. A startup that holds the separate tax certificate can let staff delay the payment. The delay ends when they sell the shares, when they leave, or when the years allowed run out. The tax itself is still worked out on the day of exercise. Only the payment moves.
A recognised startup can apply for years without income tax.
The government recognises startups through a body called DPIIT. Recognition is the first step and it is not the tax break. The tax break needs a second application to a separate board, and most recognised startups do not hold it. With it, a company can skip income tax for three years in a row out of its first ten. It is a deduction from profit, so it is worth nothing in a year you make a loss.
Your foreign software bills carry Indian GST.
Cloud, hosting and software bought from outside India are taxed here, and you pay that GST yourself. It is called reverse charge, and it applies even though the bill shows no tax. You claim it back as credit, so it costs nothing when it is handled right. Some of these payments also need tax deducted before the money leaves, and many do not.
Money raised as a convertible note is not equity yet.
A convertible note is a loan that can turn into shares later, usually at the next round. Until it converts, it sits in your books as a loan. Recorded as revenue or as capital, your balance sheet is wrong. There is a second trap. The note stays outside the deposit rules only if it meets every condition those rules set, and only for a recognised startup.
What we do for you
Every month, this is what we take over.
- We prepare your MIS report every month. MIS means the numbers pack your board wants: runway, burn and the rest, ready well before the meeting.
- We keep you ready for due diligence. GST matched to your profit and loss, dues paid on time, and owner payments recorded clearly, updated every month, not assembled right before a round.
- We file your share allotment form on time. PAS-3 filed within days of every round, so a fee that grows by the day never starts.
- We handle ESOP tax and foreign payments. Payroll tax on options when they are exercised. Tax cut before a payment goes to a foreign vendor, checked before it leaves.
- Everything beyond reports and filings. Books, GST, TDS, income tax and ROC where it applies. We run all of it as your finance team, for one fixed fee. Payroll and the yearly audit investors expect are quoted separately, before they start.
A round changes what your books have to prove. Reports, filings and audits move from optional to expected, the day the money lands.
Software does the routine work. Our team reviews every return. You approve, then we file. How it works
Read more
The filings that matter most for you.
The jobs a startup has that a shop does not.
Each one has its own page, written for the founder who has to deal with it this quarter.
After the money lands
Approvals, payroll, a runway forecast, investor reporting and the filings a round triggers, set up in the first 90 days.
Investor reporting
The monthly update and the board pack, built from the same closed books every time.
Raising a round
The valuation report, the approvals, the filings and the cap table, in the order a round closes.
ESOPs
The tax an employee pays at exercise, the deferral some startups can offer, and the filings a company owes.
India subsidiary of a foreign parent
The intercompany invoice, the transfer pricing study, GST on exports, and a monthly close built to your parent's date.
Questions
Things people in your position ask.
How soon do we need to file after issuing shares in a round?
Within days, using a form called PAS-3 that tells the ROC about the new shares. Filing it late brings a fee that grows for every day it stays open. We prepare and file it as soon as the round closes.
What do investors check in due diligence that we might miss?
Mostly whether your numbers agree with each other. Your GST returns should match your profit and loss, your tax and dues should be paid, and payments to owners should be recorded clearly. Gaps here are the most common reason a due diligence review takes longer than planned.
How does an employee get taxed on stock options?
When they exercise the option, that is a tax event, and tax must be deducted through payroll. If your startup holds the tax certificate for recognised startups, employees may be able to delay paying it for a few years. We track which rule applies and handle the payroll side.
Can you take on a startup that has not raised money yet?
Yes. A company with no revenue still owes an income tax return, ROC filings every year, and an audit. Clean books from month one also make your first investor check faster.
By what you do
Not quite you?
- Manufacturers
- Traders and wholesalers
- Retail and restaurants
- Service businesses
- Exporters and importers
- Online sellers
- Software and SaaS
- Agencies
- Consultants
- Creators
- Everyone we work for
Just started a company?
Send us your incorporation date. We tell you every form due in your first year, and by when.
See your first-year filings