HR & Payroll Compliance Calendar FY 2026-27 for Indian SMBs

HR & Payroll Compliance Calendar FY 2026-27: Month-Wise Guide for Indian SMBs

If you run payroll for a small or mid-sized business in India, you already know the feeling: the month closes, salaries go out, and then the real race begins. PF by the 15th. TDS by the 7th. ESI contributions. Professional tax in three different states because your team went remote. A quarterly TDS return you almost forgot. This HR compliance calendar for FY 2026-27 is built to end that scramble. It walks you through every major statutory obligation month by month — from April 2026 to March 2027 — so your HR and payroll team can plan the year instead of reacting to it.

Think of this payroll compliance calendar for India as a working document: bookmark it, adapt it to the states you operate in, load the dates into your HRMS, and review it at the start of every month. One important caveat before we begin — statutory due dates, contribution rates, thresholds, and forms are notified by government authorities and do change. Everything below reflects the widely followed norms for these filings, but you should always verify current dates and rules on the official EPFO, ESIC, Income Tax, and relevant state government portals (or with your compliance advisor) before relying on them. Treat this guide as your planning framework, not legal advice.

Why Every Indian SMB Needs an HR Compliance Calendar

Large enterprises have compliance teams, retainer law firms, and dedicated payroll departments. Most Indian SMBs have one HR generalist, a founder who signs off on payroll, and an accountant who is already stretched thin during GST and income tax season. In that environment, statutory compliance fails not because people don't care, but because nobody owns a calendar.

Here is what a well-maintained compliance calendar actually protects you from:

• Interest and damages on late deposits. Provident Fund and ESI authorities levy interest and damages on delayed contributions, and the damages can scale up with the length of the delay. Late TDS deposits attract interest, and late TDS returns attract fees per day of delay.
• Loss of employee trust. When an employee's PF passbook doesn't show a contribution, or their Form 16 is delayed, they notice. Payroll credibility is HR credibility.
• Deal-breaking diligence findings. If you ever raise funding or get acquired, statutory compliance history is one of the first things reviewed. A clean track record is an asset; a trail of late filings is a negotiation problem.
• Personal exposure for directors and officers. Several labour and tax laws place responsibility on designated persons in the company, including the employer or principal officer. Non-compliance is not just a company problem.
• Registration and licence risks. Shops & Establishments registrations, contractor licences, and factory licences typically require timely renewals; letting them lapse can invite inspections and penalties.

The good news: statutory compliance in India is highly patterned. The same monthly deadlines repeat, the same quarterly returns recur, and annual obligations cluster around predictable points in the year. Once you map the pattern for your specific states and headcount, running compliance becomes a checklist exercise — which is exactly what this guide gives you.

The Core Obligations in Your Payroll Compliance Calendar

Before the month-wise breakdown, let's establish the recurring building blocks. Nearly every month of FY 2026-27 will involve some combination of the following. If a term below is new to you, this section doubles as a quick primer.

Provident Fund (EPF)

If your establishment is covered under the EPF scheme (coverage generally applies once an establishment crosses the notified employee threshold, and many smaller companies register voluntarily), you must deposit both the employer and employee PF contributions and file the Electronic Challan-cum-Return (ECR) each month. The widely followed due date is the 15th of the following month — so contributions for April 2026 payroll are due by 15 May 2026. Alongside the money, keep your UAN and KYC data clean: incorrect Aadhaar-name mismatches are the most common reason employee contributions bounce or remain unlinked.

Employees' State Insurance (ESI)

ESI applies to covered establishments and to employees earning up to the notified wage ceiling. Monthly contributions (employer plus employee share) are generally due by the 15th of the following month. ESI also has half-yearly contribution periods, which bring their own return-of-contribution obligations — we flag these in the relevant months below. As always, confirm the current wage ceiling and contribution rates on the ESIC portal, since these are revised from time to time.

TDS on Salaries

Tax deducted at source from employee salaries must generally be deposited by the 7th of the following month — except for TDS deducted in March, which typically has a later due date in April. On top of monthly deposits, you must file the quarterly TDS return (Form 24Q) and issue Form 16 to employees annually. TDS on salary deadlines are among the most unforgiving in the calendar because interest and late-filing fees apply almost mechanically.

Professional Tax (PT)

Professional tax is a state subject. Rates, slabs, due dates, and return frequencies vary widely: some states require monthly remittance and returns, others quarterly, half-yearly, or annual filings, and several states levy no professional tax at all. Some states also require an annual employer enrolment payment, often due early in the financial year. If you have employees in multiple states — increasingly common with remote work — you may need PT registrations in each state where employees are based. Map your PT obligations state by state; it is the most fragmented item in the entire calendar.

Labour Welfare Fund (LWF)

Labour Welfare Fund contributions are also state-specific. Contribution amounts are usually small, but frequencies differ — some states collect half-yearly (commonly June and December cycles), others annually. Because the amounts are tiny, LWF is the compliance item most often forgotten. Put it on the calendar with the same seriousness as PF.

Everything Else

Beyond the monthly core, your annual layer includes: statutory bonus payment and returns under the Payment of Bonus Act, gratuity obligations under the Payment of Gratuity Act, the annual report under the POSH Act (Prevention of Sexual Harassment), Shops & Establishments (S&E) registration renewals, annual returns under various labour laws, income tax investment proof collection, and — for FY 2026-27 specifically — readiness checkpoints for the four consolidated labour codes as their implementation is phased in. Each of these appears in the month where it typically demands attention.

Recurring Monthly Compliance Checklist (Every Month of FY 2026-27)

These items repeat every single month. Build them into a standing checklist that your payroll owner runs after each payroll cycle.

*Typical, widely followed dates — always verify current notified due dates on the official portals, as authorities can revise or extend them.

A note on the last two rows: statutory compliance is not only about payments and returns. Registering new joiners promptly and settling leavers on time are compliance events in their own right, and delays there cascade into every downstream filing.

Month-Wise HR Compliance Calendar FY 2026-27 (April 2026 – March 2027)

Here is the heart of this guide: what to do, month by month, through the financial year. Each month lists the recurring core (deposits and returns for the previous month's payroll) plus the special obligations that make that month distinctive. Due dates mentioned are the widely followed norms — verify each on the relevant official portal at the start of the month, because notifications and extensions do happen.

April 2026 — The Year-Opening Sprint

April is arguably the heaviest month in the entire HR compliance calendar because year-end and year-start obligations overlap.

• 7 April (typical): Deposit TDS deducted from March 2026 salaries — note that March TDS often follows a different, slightly later due date than the usual 7th; confirm the current rule for government vs non-government deductors.
• 15 April: PF contributions and ECR filing for March 2026 payroll; ESI contributions for March 2026.
• Professional tax: Remit PT for March and check whether your state requires an annual PT return or annual enrolment payment early in the new financial year — several states place employer enrolment renewals in this window.
• New tax regime declarations: Collect employees' choice of tax regime and investment declarations for FY 2026-27 so TDS on salary is computed correctly from the very first payroll of the year.
• Salary structure review: If you are revising CTCs effective April, ensure PF wages, ESI applicability, and PT slabs are re-evaluated for every employee whose pay changed.
• Labour codes checkpoint #1: At the start of the year, confirm the current implementation status of the four labour codes (wages, social security, industrial relations, and occupational safety) for the states you operate in. Implementation is phased and state-dependent — verify what has actually been notified and enforced where you are, and note any changes to definitions of "wages" that could affect PF, gratuity, and leave encashment calculations.
• Annual returns under labour laws: Several establishments have annual returns under laws such as those governing contract labour or state S&E rules falling due early in the year — check your state's list.

May 2026 — Bonus Season Groundwork and Q4 TDS Return

• 7 May: Deposit TDS on April 2026 salaries.
• 15 May: PF ECR and ESI contributions for April payroll.
• 31 May (typical): File Form 24Q for Q4 of FY 2025-26 (January–March quarter). This is the return that feeds Form 16, so accuracy here matters enormously — reconcile every employee's annual TDS before filing.
• Professional tax: Monthly remittance where applicable.
• Bonus groundwork: Close your books for FY 2025-26 with your accountant and compute allocable surplus for statutory bonus under the Payment of Bonus Act. Bonus for a financial year is generally payable within eight months of the year's close, so starting the computation now avoids an autumn scramble.
• Gratuity provisioning: With the previous year's numbers final, review your gratuity liability and, if you use a group gratuity scheme, update actuarial data with your insurer.

June 2026 — Form 16 and the First LWF Cycle

• 7 June: Deposit TDS on May salaries.
• 15 June: PF ECR and ESI for May; also the first advance tax instalment date for the company itself (a finance obligation, but worth flagging to founders who own both calendars).
• 15 June (typical): Issue Form 16 to all employees for FY 2025-26. Employees begin filing income tax returns soon after, so delays here generate immediate escalations.
• 30 June (common in several states): First half-yearly Labour Welfare Fund contribution cycle closes in some states — check the LWF rules for each state where you have employees, since both the contribution period and the payment deadline vary.
• Professional tax: Monthly remittance; some states also have quarterly PT returns falling due around quarter-end.
• Mid-year data hygiene: June is a good moment to run a PF KYC audit — unverified UANs, Aadhaar mismatches, and unlinked bank accounts — before they block claims later.

July 2026 — Quarter One Closes

• 7 July: Deposit TDS on June salaries.
• 15 July: PF ECR and ESI for June.
• 31 July (typical): File Form 24Q for Q1 of FY 2026-27 (April–June quarter). Reconcile TDS deposited against TDS deducted for the quarter before filing.
• Professional tax: Monthly remittance; states with quarterly cycles may require Q1 returns.
• Employee ITR support: July is personal ITR season. Expect a spike in employee queries on Form 16, HRA proofs, and TDS mismatches. Blocking an HR "office hours" window for tax queries saves everyone time.
• POSH pulse check: Verify your Internal Committee (IC) is validly constituted — members in place, external member appointed, tenure not expired — and that the workplace policy and notices are displayed. Doing this mid-year makes the January annual report painless.

August 2026 — The Quiet Month (Use It Well)

• 7 August: Deposit TDS on July salaries.
• 15 August: PF ECR and ESI for July (plan around the Independence Day holiday — banks and approvers may be offline, so process early).
• Professional tax: Monthly remittance where applicable.
• Recommended project: With no major returns due, August is the ideal month for an internal compliance audit. Sample-check five employees end to end: offer letter, wage register entry, PF contribution, ESI record, PT deduction, and payslip. Fix systemic issues you find before the busy season.
• Contractor compliance: If you engage contract labour or vendors who deploy staff at your premises, audit their PF/ESI challans and licences now. Principal employers can be held responsible for contractor lapses.

September 2026 — Half-Year Mark

• 7 September: Deposit TDS on August salaries.
• 15 September: PF ECR and ESI for August; second advance tax instalment for the company.
• Professional tax: Monthly remittance.
• Mid-year TDS true-up: You are now five to six payrolls into the year. Re-project every employee's annual tax based on actual investments declared and any salary revisions, and correct under- or over-deduction now rather than in a brutal February adjustment.
• Bonus deadline watch: If your financial year ended 31 March 2026, the outer limit for paying statutory bonus (generally eight months from the close of the accounting year) falls around late November — confirm your computation is signed off this month so payment can ride on the October or November payroll.
• ESI contribution period: One of ESI's half-yearly contribution periods closes at the end of September (April–September). Ensure records for the period are complete and watch for the associated return-of-contribution requirements.

October 2026 — Q2 Returns and Festive Payroll Pressure

• 7 October: Deposit TDS on September salaries.
• 15 October: PF ECR and ESI for September.
• 31 October (typical): File Form 24Q for Q2 of FY 2026-27 (July–September quarter).
• Professional tax: Monthly remittance; quarterly-cycle states may have Q2 returns due.
• Festive advances and bonuses: Many SMBs pay Diwali bonuses, ex-gratia, or salary advances in October or November. Remember that statutory bonus, ex-gratia, and advances each have different tax and PF treatment — configure them correctly in payroll rather than lumping everything as "bonus."
• ESI half-yearly return: The return of contributions for the April–September contribution period typically falls due in this window — verify the current ESIC timeline and file for the closed period.
• Holiday-heavy month: Festive holidays compress working days. Move your payroll cut-off earlier and pre-schedule statutory payments so a bank holiday doesn't turn into a late deposit.

November 2026 — Statutory Bonus Outer Deadline

• 7 November: Deposit TDS on October salaries.
• 15 November: PF ECR and ESI for October.
• Professional tax: Monthly remittance.
• Statutory bonus: For companies with an April–March accounting year, the eight-month outer window for paying bonus for FY 2025-26 generally ends in late November. Pay it, record it in the bonus registers, and check whether your state requires an annual bonus return (commonly Form D) and by when.
• Investment proof planning: Announce your investment proof submission window (most companies collect proofs in December–January). Communicating early gives employees time to gather rent receipts, insurance premiums, and loan certificates.

December 2026 — Second LWF Cycle and Proof Collection

• 7 December: Deposit TDS on November salaries.
• 15 December: PF ECR and ESI for November; third advance tax instalment for the company.
• 31 December (common in several states): Second half-yearly LWF contribution cycle closes in many states; some states with annual LWF cycles also collect in this window. Check every state where you have staff — LWF is deducted from employees in many states, so missed cycles also mean payroll corrections.
• Professional tax: Monthly remittance; quarterly returns where applicable.
• Investment proof collection begins: Open the window in your HRMS, communicate documentation standards clearly (what counts as valid rent proof, PAN of landlord thresholds, etc., per current income tax rules), and set a hard internal deadline in January.
• Year-end leave management: If your leave policy or state S&E rules involve leave lapsing, carry-forward caps, or encashment at calendar year-end, process these correctly in December payroll.

January 2027 — POSH Annual Report and Q3 Returns

• 7 January: Deposit TDS on December salaries.
• 15 January: PF ECR and ESI for December.
• 31 January (typical): File Form 24Q for Q3 of FY 2026-27 (October–December quarter).
• POSH annual report: Under the POSH Act, the Internal Committee prepares an annual report for the calendar year (covering complaints received and disposed of) and submits it to the employer and the District Officer within the notified timeline; companies also fold POSH disclosures into their board reporting where applicable. January is when most organizations compile the calendar-year report — confirm the exact submission requirements for your district and ensure the IC signs off.
• Annual returns season: Many state S&E rules and central labour laws prescribe annual returns due in January or February (some consolidated as a unified annual return on the central Shram Suvidha portal, where applicable). Build a state-wise list with your consultant.
• Investment proof deadline: Close proof collection early enough to compute accurate TDS for the February and March payrolls.

February 2027 — The TDS True-Up Month

• 7 February: Deposit TDS on January salaries.
• 15 February: PF ECR and ESI for January.
• Professional tax: Monthly remittance. Note that at least one major state follows a February-end annual PT payment pattern for certain classes of taxpayers — verify your state's cycle.
• Final TDS computation: Process verified investment proofs and recompute each employee's final tax liability. Whatever shortfall exists must be spread across February and March salaries — the later you leave it, the harsher the March deduction.
• Increment and budget planning: If your appraisal cycle takes effect in April, February is when revised salary structures should be modelled — including their PF, ESI, PT, gratuity, and (depending on notified status) labour-code wage-definition impact.
• Labour codes checkpoint #2: Re-verify the implementation status of the labour codes before you finalize April CTC structures. If wage-definition changes have been notified and enforced in your states, factor the impact on PF and gratuity into next year's compensation budgets.

March 2027 — Year-End Close

• 7 March: Deposit TDS on February salaries.
• 15 March: PF ECR and ESI for February; final advance tax instalment for the company.
• 31 March: The financial year ends. Ensure:
• Final TDS on March payroll is computed correctly (deposit follows in April, typically on a later-than-usual date — confirm the current rule).
• PT for March and any annual PT reconciliations are queued.
• All statutory registers (wages, attendance, overtime, fines, deductions, bonus, leave) are complete for the year.
• Full-and-final settlements for the year's exits are closed, including gratuity payments — remember gratuity is generally payable within thirty days of it becoming due, so it is a rolling obligation, not a year-end one.
• Pending PF KYC issues, ESI record mismatches, and unclaimed challan discrepancies are resolved before the year's books close.
• Prepare the FY 2027-28 calendar: Before April arrives, refresh this entire calendar for the next year — verify every date, add new states you have expanded into, and incorporate any newly notified rules or labour-code requirements.

Quarterly and Annual Obligations at a Glance

The monthly grind is only half the picture. Here are the quarterly and annual obligations from the calendar above, consolidated for quick reference.

*Typical patterns only. Deadlines, forms, and formats are periodically revised — confirm on official portals before acting.

State-Level Variations: PT, LWF, and Shops & Establishments

If there is one theme that separates Indian payroll compliance from most other countries, it is federal fragmentation. Three items in particular demand a state-by-state map.

Professional Tax: One Name, Many Regimes

PT exists in a number of states and union territories, each with its own slabs, ceilings, due dates, and return formats. Practical rules of thumb:

• Registration follows the employee's work location, so remote and hybrid teams can quietly create PT obligations in new states. Review employee locations quarterly.
• Two registrations often apply per state: a certificate for deducting PT from employees, and an enrolment for the employer entity's own PT. They have different payment cycles.
• Return frequency is tied to liability size in some states — small deductors may file annually while larger ones file monthly. Ask your consultant which bucket you fall into in each state.
• Some states levy no PT at all, so a Delhi-only company may have zero PT obligations while a Bengaluru or Mumbai team has monthly ones.

Labour Welfare Fund: Small Money, Real Obligation

LWF exists in many (not all) states, with contributions split between employer and employee. The amounts per employee are modest, but the deduction must appear correctly on payslips in the right months, and remittance must reach the state welfare board by its deadline. Keep a simple two-column tracker: state → LWF cycle and due date. Verify amounts annually, as boards revise them.

Shops & Establishments: Registration Hygiene

Every office or commercial establishment typically needs an S&E registration in its state or municipality. Renewal cycles vary — some states issue registrations valid for a year, others for several years, and a few have moved to one-time registration. Actions for FY 2026-27:

1. List every physical location and its registration expiry date.
2. Set a reminder at least 30–60 days before each expiry.
3. Update registrations when headcount, address, or business details change — many states require amendments, not just renewals.
4. Display the registration certificate and required abstracts/notices at each premises as your state mandates.

Gratuity, Bonus, and POSH: The Obligations That Don't Follow Payroll Rhythm

Three compliance areas sit outside the monthly deposit cycle and therefore get missed most often by SMBs.

Gratuity: An Event-Driven Clock

Gratuity under the Payment of Gratuity Act generally becomes payable when an eligible employee (typically one who has completed the qualifying period of continuous service — commonly understood as five years, with exceptions such as death or disablement) leaves the organization. Key operational points:

• Gratuity is generally payable within thirty days of becoming due; delays can attract interest.
• Collect nomination forms (Form F is the traditional form) at onboarding, not at exit.
• Provision for gratuity in your books annually; a growing five-year-old startup can be surprised by how quickly the liability accumulates.
• Watch the labour codes: the notified definition of "wages" and provisions on gratuity for certain categories (such as fixed-term employees) may change the calculation once the relevant code applies to you — confirm current status.

Statutory Bonus: A Two-Part Obligation

The Payment of Bonus Act creates both a payment obligation and a record/return obligation:

1. Compute the bonus for eligible employees (eligibility is tied to a notified wage ceiling; the percentage payable ranges between statutory minimum and maximum limits based on allocable surplus).
2. Pay within the statutory window — generally eight months from the close of the accounting year.
3. Record the computation in the prescribed registers and file the applicable annual return.

Because bonus depends on your audited financials, coordinate with your finance team in May–June so the number is ready long before the November outer limit.

POSH: Compliance Is Year-Round, Reporting Is Annual

POSH compliance is often reduced to "we did a training once." The actual obligations for most employers (the core duties generally apply to workplaces with ten or more employees — verify applicability) include:

• A validly constituted Internal Committee with the required composition, including an external member.
• A written policy, displayed notices, and employee awareness sessions.
• Time-bound handling of complaints as prescribed.
• An annual report by the IC for each calendar year, submitted as required to the employer and the District Officer — the January entry in this calendar.

Put IC member tenure expiry dates into the same compliance calendar; an IC whose members' terms have lapsed is a compliance gap even if no complaint ever arrives.

Labour Codes Readiness: Checkpoints Through FY 2026-27

India's four consolidated labour codes — covering wages, social security, industrial relations, and occupational safety, health and working conditions — represent the biggest structural change to employment law in decades. Their implementation has been phased and state-dependent, with central rules, state rules, and enforcement dates rolling out unevenly. Do not assume a national switch-on date; verify what is actually notified and in force for each state you operate in, and for your industry.

Rather than one big migration, treat FY 2026-27 as a year of scheduled readiness checkpoints:

• April 2026: Confirm current notification and enforcement status in your states. Identify which code provisions already apply to you.
• July 2026: Model the impact of the codes' "wages" definition on your salary structures. A commonly discussed effect is that where allowances exceed the permitted proportion of total remuneration, more of the pay packet may count as "wages" — raising PF, gratuity, and leave encashment costs. Run the numbers on your actual CTC structures.
• October 2026: Review documentation readiness — appointment letters in prescribed formats, registers, wage slips, and policies that the codes and their rules require.
• February 2027: Final check before the April 2027 increment cycle, so any required restructuring lands in the new financial year cleanly.

Two practical warnings. First, resist restructuring salaries based on commentary alone — act on notified rules applicable to you, ideally with professional advice. Second, when changes do apply, employee communication matters as much as the maths: a restructure that raises PF outflow can reduce take-home pay, and employees deserve a clear explanation before they see a smaller credit.

How to Operationalize Your HR Compliance Calendar (Step by Step)

A calendar in a blog post prevents nothing. A calendar embedded in your systems and rituals prevents almost everything. Here is a practical rollout plan.

Step 1: Build Your Company-Specific Master List

Take every obligation in this guide and filter it through four questions:

1. Does it apply to us? (PF/ESI coverage, bonus eligibility, POSH applicability, contract labour, factory vs S&E establishment.)
2. In which states? (PT, LWF, S&E, state labour returns.)
3. What is the exact current due date? (Verify on official portals — never inherit last year's dates blindly.)
4. Who owns it? (A named person, not a team.)

The output is a single spreadsheet or HRMS configuration: obligation, frequency, due date, owner, backup owner, portal/login reference, and proof-of-completion location.

Step 2: Set Internal Deadlines Ahead of Statutory Ones

Never plan to the statutory date. Set internal deadlines two to four working days earlier:

• TDS deposit due on the 7th → internal deadline the 3rd or 4th.
• PF/ESI due on the 15th → internal deadline the 10th or 11th.
• Quarterly 24Q due month-end → internal deadline a week prior, because reconciliation always surfaces surprises.

Buffers absorb portal downtime, bank holidays, OTP failures, and the approver being on leave — the four horsemen of the late filing.

Step 3: Automate Reminders in Layers

One reminder is a suggestion; a layered system is a control:

• T-7 days: Task assigned to the owner with the checklist attached.
• T-3 days: Reminder to owner plus visibility to the backup.
• T-1 day: Escalation to the HR lead or founder if the task isn't marked complete.
• T+0: A hard stop review — nothing rolls past a due date silently.

A payroll-integrated HRMS makes this dramatically easier because reminders can be tied to payroll events ("payroll finalized → generate ECR → schedule PF payment task") instead of bare calendar dates.

Step 4: Standardize Evidence

For every completed obligation, store the proof — challan, acknowledgement number, filed return PDF — in a predictable folder structure (Year → Month → Obligation) or against the compliance task in your HRMS. When an inspector, auditor, or investor asks for three years of PF challans, retrieval should take minutes.

Step 5: Run a Monthly Compliance Review

Fifteen minutes, first week of each month, HR plus finance:

• Confirm every previous-month obligation is completed with evidence.
• Preview the current month's list, including any special items (quarterly returns, LWF cycles, renewals).
• Log any misses, root causes, and fixes.

This tiny ritual converts compliance from an individual's memory into an organizational habit — which is exactly what protects you when that individual resigns.

Step 6: Re-Verify Dates Quarterly

Statutory due dates and rules are notified, revised, and occasionally extended. Once a quarter, have your owner (or consultant) sweep the official portals — EPFO, ESIC, the income tax e-filing/TRACES ecosystem, and your states' PT/LWF/labour department sites — and update the master list. Date drift is silent; scheduled verification is the antidote.

Common Compliance Mistakes Indian SMBs Make (and How the Calendar Fixes Them)

• Treating the 15th as the day to start, not finish. PF payments initiated on the due date fail on bank cut-offs and portal load. Fix: internal deadline on the 10th.
• Forgetting state obligations after remote hiring. An employee hired in a new state can create PT, LWF, and S&E questions nobody planned for. Fix: a "new state checklist" triggered by the first hire in any state.
• Reconciling 24Q only at year-end. Quarterly mismatches compound into Form 16 chaos. Fix: reconcile challans vs deductions before every quarterly filing.
• Ignoring LWF because the amount is small. Non-compliance risk is not proportional to rupee value. Fix: LWF cycles pinned in June and December (or your states' cycles).
• Letting the POSH IC lapse. Committees are constituted once and forgotten. Fix: IC tenure dates live in the same calendar as PF dates.
• No evidence trail. Payments made but challans unfindable during diligence. Fix: Step 4 above — evidence stored the same day the task closes.
• Single point of failure. One person holds all portal logins and all knowledge. Fix: documented credentials process, named backup owners, and an HRMS that keeps the workflow visible to more than one human.

Quick-Reference: FY 2026-27 Monthly Due-Date Snapshot

Print this table, or better, load it into your HRMS task engine. It shows the headline statutory compliance due dates each month (for the previous month's payroll unless noted). Verify every date against current official notifications — treat this as your planning grid.

FAQ: HR and Payroll Compliance Calendar for India

What are the PF and ESI due dates every month?

Under the widely followed norm, both PF contributions (with the ECR filing) and ESI contributions are due by the 15th of the month following the wage month. So contributions on June 2026 salaries are due by 15 July 2026. Because portal or banking delays can push a payment past midnight, most well-run teams set an internal deadline around the 10th. Always confirm the current due dates on the EPFO and ESIC portals, as rules can be revised.

When should TDS on salaries be deposited, and when are 24Q returns due?

TDS deducted from salaries is generally due by the 7th of the following month, with TDS deducted in March typically following a later notified date in April. The quarterly salary TDS return, Form 24Q, is generally due around the end of the month following each quarter — commonly late July, October, January, and May (for the Q4 return). Verify the current due dates on the income tax portal before each filing, and reconcile challans against deductions before submitting.

Do professional tax due dates really differ by state?

Yes — significantly. Professional tax is levied by individual states, so slabs, ceilings, remittance dates, return frequencies, and even whether PT exists at all vary from state to state. A company with employees in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and West Bengal will have three distinct PT compliance streams. Map obligations for every state where employees work (including remote employees) and verify each state's current notified schedule.

What is the Labour Welfare Fund and when is it due?

LWF is a state-level fund supporting labour welfare activities, funded by small contributions from employees and employers in the states that have adopted it. Contribution frequency varies — half-yearly cycles (often aligned to June and December) are common, while some states collect annually. Check whether each state you operate in has an LWF, what the current contribution amounts are, and the exact remittance deadlines for your states.

Is the POSH annual report mandatory for small companies?

The POSH Act's core employer duties, including constituting an Internal Committee, generally apply to workplaces with ten or more employees, and the IC must prepare an annual report each calendar year that is submitted as prescribed. Even smaller workplaces have obligations under the Act's framework (with the Local Committee route applying where an IC is not required). Verify current applicability for your organization, and treat January as your standing compile-and-submit checkpoint.

How do the new labour codes affect this compliance calendar?

The four labour codes consolidate a large number of existing central labour laws and, once applicable to you, can affect wage definitions (impacting PF and gratuity), returns and registers, and several employment practices. Implementation has been phased, with central and state rules notified on different timelines — so the honest answer is: verify the current status for your states and sector at least twice during FY 2026-27 (this guide suggests April and February checkpoints, with structural reviews in between) and act on notified rules rather than headlines.

What happens if we miss a statutory deadline?

Consequences vary by law but typically include interest on late payment, damages or penalties that can scale with the delay, late-filing fees for returns, and in more serious or repeated cases, prosecution provisions. Beyond the legal exposure, misses create employee grievances (missing PF credits, delayed Form 16) and diligence red flags. If you discover a miss, remediate immediately — deposit with applicable interest, file the pending return, document the correction — and fix the process gap that caused it.

What's the easiest way for a small HR team to manage all of this?

Three moves: (1) build a company-specific master calendar with named owners and internal deadlines set before statutory ones; (2) automate layered reminders and evidence storage rather than relying on memory; and (3) use a payroll-integrated HRMS so statutory outputs — ECR files, ESI contribution data, TDS workings, PT computations by state — are generated from payroll automatically instead of being assembled by hand each month.

Conclusion: Make FY 2026-27 the Year Compliance Runs Itself

Statutory compliance in India looks intimidating from a distance — a thicket of acronyms, portals, and state-specific exceptions. Up close, it is a repeating pattern: deposit TDS by the 7th, PF and ESI by the 15th, remit state taxes on their cycles, file quarterly 24Q returns, and handle a predictable set of annual events — Form 16 in June, bonus by late autumn, LWF in June and December for many states, POSH reporting in January, and a disciplined year-end close in March. Add scheduled labour-code checkpoints and quarterly date verification, and you have a compliance function that runs on rails.

The teams that struggle are not the ones who don't know the rules; they are the ones managing the rules in someone's head. The fix is structural: one master calendar, named owners, internal buffers, layered reminders, and evidence filed the day each task closes.

This is exactly the problem CozyHR was built to solve for Indian SMBs. CozyHR generates your statutory outputs from payroll itself — PF ECR files, ESI contribution data, TDS computations, and state-wise professional tax — while its compliance calendar assigns owners, fires layered reminders before every due date, and keeps challans and acknowledgements filed against each task automatically. Instead of reconstructing compliance every month, your team reviews a dashboard.

If you would like FY 2026-27 to be the year statutory deadlines stop being a source of stress, take CozyHR for a spin — start a free trial or book a quick demo, and bring this calendar with you. We'll help you turn it into a living system before the first PF deadline of the new financial year arrives.

Disclaimer: This article provides general information for planning purposes and is not legal or tax advice. Statutory rates, thresholds, forms, and due dates change through government notifications, and labour code implementation is phased and state-dependent. Always verify current requirements on official government portals or with a qualified professional before acting.