• Saurabh Kesarwani
  • img March 20, 2026

FAQs on Offline Filings of Annual Forms

This FAQ addresses offline filing of annual forms under the Companies Act, 2013, applicable in cases where filings are permitted or required to be made physically or through non-MCA online modes. It explains circumstances necessitating offline filing, types of annual forms involved, procedure to be followed, documents to be submitted, jurisdictional Registrar of Companies (ROC), and acknowledgement and record-keeping requirements. The FAQ also highlights common issues, compliance risks, and consequences of non-submission, helping companies and professionals ensure proper compliance with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs where online filing is not feasible.

1) What are the steps involved in filing the form in Offline mode?next

Access the form through MCA services – E-filing – Annual forms- kindly note that pop-ups are enabled in the Parent form with basic information e.g. CIN,
-on Save and submit- The page is divided into multiple sections, It is mandatory to click on save button after each section, to enable editing next section.
- Accordion/Panel for applicable linked forms will be enabled for the user.
- Fill up the basic information of linked forms as applicable (AOC-1, AOC-2, AOC-4 CFS, CSR-2, Extract of Auditor’s Report [Standalone], Extract of Auditor’s Report [Consolidated], Extract of Boards report)
- Click on Proceed button to submit Parent and linked forms with basic information
- Excel gets generated, and download excel option would be displayed to the user.
- One Zip file will be downloaded containing all excels with parent and applicable linked forms.
- One complete blank excels set for parent and applicable linked forms (only previous year figures if applicable and information provided in the respective web form section shall be prefilled) will be downloaded. In the downloaded excels, web form fields which are prefilled will be non-editable.
- Fill the relevant excels in offline mode.
- Upload one by one filled excel against each form section and when the first excel is uploaded  and successfully validated, then only the next form related ‘Choose file’ button will get enabled.
- In case of excel validation errors, the user will be displayed error messages in a txt file and will be required to make necessary changes in the Excel.
- The user can download individual excel once it is uploaded by clicking ‘Download’ button which is corresponding to excel attachment. If user is clicking on ‘download’ button the last uploaded will get downloaded.
- Once all excels are successfully validated, click on “Proceed” action button.
- Attach required attachments of Parent and linked forms.
- Click on ‘Submit’ action button against each form after attaching mandatory attachments.
- System performs all server-side validations on click of each ‘Submit’ action button.
- SRN is generated upon submission of webform(s) (The SRN can be used by the user for any future correspondence with MCA.)

2) Can I choose Offline mode for parent form and Online mode for linked forms or vice-versa?next

No. Option to choose between Online and Offline mode is applicable only to the Parent form.

If the Parent form is filed in Online mode, all the linked filings must also be submitted in Online mode. Conversely, if the Parent form is filed in Offline mode, all linked filings must be filed in Offline mode.

3) What are the different Edit form scenarios in Offline mode?next

Scenario 1 – If the user leaves the page after only clicking on ‘Save’ button on the parent form Accordion/Panel.
- Only parent form Accordion/Panel and 1st section before ‘Save’ button on this Accordion/Panel will be editable to user. User needs to click on ‘Save’ to enable the 2nd section on the page where ‘Submit’ button is displayed.
- Linked form Accordion/Panels will not be visible to user at this point of time.
- After user clicks on “Submit” button, Accordion/Panels for applicable linked forms would become visible to the user.
- After successful submit the form filing process would continue as per normal process

Scenario 2 – If the user leaves the page after clicking on ‘Submit’ button on the parent form Accordion/Panel
- All the forms (Accordion/Panels) applicable to the user will be shown as per last submission of parent form,
- If user updates any details and clicks on “Submit” button in the parent form Accordion/Panel, then –
a complete blank excel set (only previous year figures and information provided in the respective web form section shall be prefilled) will be downloaded. Blank excels are required to be generated in this scenario as the entire functionality of linked forms web fields generation and excel generation is dependent on parent web forms fields.
Scenario 3 – If user Edits Linked form
- All the Accordion/Panels applicable to the user will be shown as per last submission of parent form
- User then can open any of the applicable linked form Accordion/Panel and fill in the data and submit the linked form.
- Complete excel set will be downloaded with all excels prefilled with the last uploaded data, except for the form for which the web form data is modified. Blank excel shall be generated for the relevant linked form for which modification is carried out. (Exception to this will be in case of Extract of Auditors Report (Standalone) and Extract of Directors Report where blank ‘Extract of Directors report’ would get generated if any change is done in Extract of Auditor Report (Standalone).

4) Can I edit the web form fields which got prefilled in the excel while filling offline form?next

No. User will not be able to edit any web-form fields in the excel. However, users can edit the web form by clicking on ‘Edit’ button on application dashboard.

A pop-up message will be displayed when the user expands parent form Accordion/Panel depicting that if user changes any details in parent form, then all the applicable linked forms would get reset. A complete blank excel set (only previous year figures and information provided in the respective web form section shall be prefilled) will be downloaded in this case. Blank excels are required to be generated in this scenario as the entire functionality of linked forms web fields generation and excel generation is dependent on parent web forms fields.

5) What should I do if I click on any offline form and it is not loading?next

The offline form will open in pop up window browser. You have to enable pop up in your browser.

6) What happens if I enter the SRN of ADT-1 in AOC-4, but that SRN is marked as defective or not associated with the same financial year for which AOC-4 is filing? Whether I required to modify web form and generate fresh excel again?next

If the SRN entered in AOC-4 is not approved, not associated with the company, or the financial year end date does not fall within the period of appointment mentioned in field 4(i) of ADT-1, the web form will display an error message during validation. You will not be able to submit the web form until the SRN is corrected. Please check and file ADT-1 form for the relevant period if not done already.

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Saurabh Kesarwani

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A dedicated CS Trainee with a passion for corporate governance and the "fine print" of legal documentation. View Full Profile

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