MCA Version 3 Portal Faces Glitches Despite Annual Returns Filing Deadline Extension to December 2025

Professionals like CAs (Chartered Accountants) and CSs (Company Secretaries) have recently pointed out several major glitches in the new MCA Version 3 portal, which is causing delays in annual filing.

Several additional professional service providers emphasised that even though the MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) has extended the due date for filing annual forms till December 31, 2025, this real issue remains unchanged. Experts say the real problem lies in fixing the portal’s inefficiency, not just extending timelines.

Vanita Agarwal, Company Secretary, said, “For the time being, an extension is given after professionals have gone and requested it, but what about all the working hours we have wasted in these filings? Filing is just the information side of compliance, not compliance itself. Responsibility and accountability should be set by the government for these delays.”

In a recent notification dated October 17, 2025, issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), the government has allowed all companies registered in India to file their financial statements and annual returns for FY25 using the newly revised e-forms available on the MCA-21 version 3 portal without paying additional fees. The ministry further added that since the issuance of new e-forms is creating problems for taxpayers in understanding the new filing process, they decided to give taxpayers some extra time to file their annual returns without paying any late or additional fees. This extra time will make them familiarise themselves with the new filing process.

The notification reads, “In view of the deployment of the new e-Forms, and considering that companies may require some time to get familiarized with the filing process, and keeping in view the requests received from various stakeholders, it has been decided that companies will be allowed to complete their annual filings pertaining to FY25 till December 31, 2025, without payment of additional fees.”

The technical issues flagged by the professionals in the new MCA Version 3 portal include the inability to change passwords, update profiles, and save data in e-forms due to the low size of attachments allowed on the portal and the requirement of prior approvals for the filing of some specific forms.

Ankit Singhi, the head of corporate affairs and compliance at Corporate Professionals, said, “Extension is fine for immediate relief, but the issues need to be resolved for the long term. If a thing that can be done in 15 minutes takes an hour, then it is concerning.”

The latest version of the MCA portal, Version 3, was launched on January 14, 2025, with a total of 38 new e-forms included. In version 2, taxpayers were first required to fill out the form completely, and then it needed to be uploaded to the portal. On the other hand, in version 3, the forms are required to be filled out online on the portal itself. This version developed an ability for taxpayers to save the form in the middle if they could not complete it and then complete the rest later on.

Some professionals have also highlighted that these new features are not working properly. The new version now has a “My Application” section where users can see all the forms they have filed so far. They can also check the current status of each form, whether it is waiting for DSC upload, being processed, fee payment pending, or sent back for resubmission.