October's compliance dates: put them in your calendar, not a PDF
October 2026 carries ten statutory due-date rows across GST, TDS, PF and ESI, and the ROC, from the September TDS deposit on the 7th to the second-quarter TDS statements on the 31st. A PDF calendar
Summary
October 2026 carries ten statutory due-date rows across GST, TDS, PF and ESI, and the ROC, from the September TDS deposit on the 7th to the second-quarter TDS statements on the 31st. A PDF calendar tells you those dates once; a calendar file puts them on your phone with a reminder, and that is the difference between knowing a date and meeting it.
The situation
Every September, GST and TDS due-date calendars for the new quarter circulate on WhatsApp as images and PDFs. They are usually right. They are also read once and forgotten, and they list every date for every kind of taxpayer, so a quarterly GST filer in Raipur has to work out which of the three GSTR-3B dates is hers.
The rule
These are the statutory default dates for October 2026. None of them carries an extension.
| Date | What | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Oct | TDS/TCS deposit for September | Anyone who deducts or collects |
| 11 Oct | GSTR-1 for September | Monthly GST filers |
| 13 Oct | GSTR-1 for July–September | Quarterly (QRMP) filers |
| 15 Oct | PF and ESI for September | Employers registered for PF or ESI |
| 18 Oct | CMP-08 for July–September | Composition dealers |
| 20 Oct | GSTR-3B for September | Monthly GST filers |
| 22 or 24 Oct | GSTR-3B for July–September | QRMP filers, by state |
| 30 Oct | AOC-4 (companies, AGM on 30 Sep); Form 8 (LLPs) | Companies and LLPs |
| 31 Oct | Q2 TDS/TCS statements: Forms 138, 140, 143, 144 (the old 24Q, 26Q, 27EQ, 27Q) | Deductors and collectors |
| 31 Oct | ITR where a tax audit applies (AY 2026-27) | Audited businesses, and companies |
The quarterly GSTR-3B date follows the state of your principal place of business under the QRMP scheme (Circular 143/13/2020-GST): the 22nd for Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and a few others; the 24th for most of the north and east, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal. Late TDS statements attract a fee of ₹200 a day under section 427 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (the old section 234E), capped at the tax.
Where people go wrong
Reading the wrong GSTR-3B row. The 20th is for monthly filers. A quarterly filer is on the 22nd or the 24th, and which one depends on the state, not on preference.
Treating AOC-4 as always the 30th. It is 30 days from the AGM. A company that held its AGM earlier is due earlier, and a One Person Company files AOC-4 within 180 days of the year end, which fell on 27 September.
Waiting for an extension. No CBDT order extending the 30 September tax-audit date had issued as at 25 September. Extensions arrive late or not at all; plan on the statutory date and treat an extension as a gift.
Keeping the calendar in a PDF. Nothing reminds you on the 5th that the 7th is coming.
What to do
- Mark only the rows that apply to you: monthly or quarterly GST, TDS, PF/ESI, company or LLP.
- For a quarterly GST filer, fix the 22nd or the 24th by your state before the month starts.
- Put each date in the calendar you already use, with a reminder three days ahead.
- Check once in the first week of October for any extension or change from the 7 October GST Council, and move the dates yourself if one issues.
The tool
I built this out of the deadline tracker I use for clients, because most people do not want a tracker, they want the dates in the calendar they already open every morning. You tick what you hold (GST type and state, the kind of income-tax return, company, LLP, trust or One Person Company, TDS, PF and ESI) and download one calendar file for the next twelve months, with a reminder on each date, that imports into Google, Outlook or Apple Calendar; re-downloading later is designed to update those events rather than duplicate them. Each event says the date it was checked. It does not apply extensions, shift dates for holidays, know your AGM date or turnover, or track whether you have filed. Nothing you tick is uploaded.
Open the due date calendar page
Sources
- CBIC — Circular 143/13/2020-GST (QRMP scheme), via DC-MSME — https://www.dcmsme.gov.in/Quarterly-return-monthly-payment-scheme.pdf
- ClearTax — GSTR-3B quarterly due dates by state — https://cleartax.in/s/file-gstr-3b-quarterly-small-taxpayers
- TaxUpdate — new TDS/TCS statement forms for FY 2026-27 (Forms 138, 140, 143, 144) — https://taxupdate.in/income-tax/811/new-tds-tcs-return-forms-fy-2026-27-form-138-140-143-144-due-31-july-2026/
- ClearTax — TDS payment due dates — https://cleartax.in/s/tds-payment-due-dates-and-penalties
- TaxGuru — AY 2026-27 ITR due dates under the Finance Act, 2026 — https://taxguru.in/income-tax/ay-2026-27-itr-due-dates-finance-act-2026.html