The Ministry of Corporate Affairs rolled out the Companies Compliance Facilitation Scheme, 2026 (CCFS-2026) vide General Circular No. 01/2026 dated 24 February 2026, offering a one-time olive branch to defaulting companies under Section 460 read with Section 403 of the Companies Act, 2013. The Scheme extends three distinct pathways to eligible companies. First, and most widely used, companies may regularise pending annual filings, namely Forms MGT-7, MGT-7A, the AOC-4 series and ADT-1, as well as certain corresponding forms under the erstwhile Companies Act, 1956, by paying the normal filing fee together with only ten per cent of the additional fee that would otherwise accrue at the rate of one hundred rupees per day without any upper cap. This amounts, in effect, to a ninety per cent waiver on accumulated late fees. Second, companies that have genuinely gone dormant may apply for dormant status under Section 455 by filing e-Form MSC-1 at half the normal fee, thereby stepping off the compliance treadmill while remaining on the register. Third, defunct companies wishing to close shop altogether may seek voluntary strike-off through e-Form STK-2 at a mere twenty-five per cent of the standard fee.
The Scheme was originally due to run its course by 15 July 2026. However, vide General Circular No. 03/2026 dated 8 July 2026, the Ministry moved the goalposts and extended the closing date to 31 August 2026. The reprieve followed a fire incident at the MCA21 data centre on 5 June 2026, which threw a spanner in the works during the peak filing season and disrupted portal-based services for a considerable stretch. All other conditions, exclusions and immunity provisions under the original circular remain untouched; only the sunset date has shifted. Notably, companies against which a final strike-off notice under Section 248 has already been issued, or which have themselves already applied for strike-off or dormant status, remain outside the Scheme’s ambit, as do companies dissolved pursuant to a scheme of amalgamation. Where filings are completed within the window, immunity from penalty under Sections 92 and 137 is also available, provided no adjudication order has already been passed. With the extended deadline now just days away, companies with pending filings would do well not to leave things to the eleventh hour, since normal additional fees, with no upper cap, resume the moment the window closes, and the Registrar is thereafter empowered to initiate adjudication, prosecution and even director disqualification under Section 164(2) against continued defaulters.