CA in Agra: Chartered Accountant and CA Firm in Agra

The short answer: monthly GST, quarterly TDS, yearly income tax and ROC forms, plus the one-off certificates banks and buyers ask for. What changes is the mix, and here the mix depends heavily on your trade.

Most owners meet their accountant twice a year: once in July for the income tax return and once when a GST notice turns up. That is too late. A shoe unit that waits until year end to look at its credit ledger cannot recover months of blocked money. A hotel that never matched its OTA statements against GSTR-1 discovers the gap only when the department writes.

Read across your row and you will see why a single "ITR filing" package rarely fits a local business. A footwear unit of ₹4 crore turnover spends more of its compliance effort on GST credits and job workers than on income tax. A guest house of ₹60 lakh mostly needs clean monthly returns and a correct rate on each booking.

Our way of working is simple. On the first call we ask how money comes in, who your buyers are and where your goods or guests come from. Then we fix a calendar for you and send WhatsApp reminders a few days before each date. If your books are kept in Tally or Busy at the shop, we work from the backup you share. If they are in a register, we start there and move you to software when the volume justifies it.

For clients who only want monthly returns handled, our GST return filing service covers GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B with reconciliation every month.

Since 22 September 2025, footwear with a sale value up to ₹2,500 a pair attracts 5% GST and pairs above that attract 18%. For many local makers this widened the gap between input tax and output tax.

The rate is decided by the actual sale value per pair on your invoice, not by the MRP printed on the box. That one point causes more confusion in the city than any other. A wholesaler selling a ₹2,800 MRP shoe to a retailer at ₹1,900 a pair charges 5% on that invoice, because the transaction value is under ₹2,500.

The inverted duty problem

When inputs such as adhesives, synthetic materials and packing are taxed higher than the shoe you sell, input tax credit keeps building in your electronic credit ledger. The law allows a refund of this accumulated credit on inputs (not on services or capital goods) through Form GST RFD-01. The claim is filed for a tax period, and the officer checks that the credit is reflected in your GSTR-2B and that the formula has been applied correctly.

Example: a shoe unit has never claimed this refund because the owner assumed it was too complicated. In practice the hardest part is clean data: purchase bills with correct HSN codes, matching GSTR-2B, and a clear split between inputs and input services.

Job work for uppers and soles

Many units here send cut leather to an upper-making workshop and get it back stitched. Under GST you can move these inputs on a delivery challan without paying tax, as long as they return within one year. The movement is then reported in Form ITC-04: half-yearly if your annual turnover is above ₹5 crore, yearly otherwise. Missing challans are the first thing an officer asks for during an audit, because stock out with job workers can look like sales without invoices.

A practical habit: number your challans in a separate series, note pairs and sizes, and close each one in the stock register when the uppers come back. It takes ten minutes a day and saves weeks during an audit.

Exports are zero-rated under GST. You either ship under a Letter of Undertaking without paying IGST, or pay IGST and get it refunded. Both routes need clean matching between your shipping bills and your GST returns.

The city has long been an export base for leather footwear and handicrafts, and a good number of units now ship directly to buyers in Europe and beyond. The tax paperwork behind an export is not difficult, but it is unforgiving about small mismatches.

Before the first shipment

• Importer-Exporter Code (IEC) from DGFT, linked to your PAN.
• LUT in Form GST RFD-11, filed online for each financial year if you want to export without paying IGST.
• A current account that can receive foreign remittances, so your bank can issue the e-BRC or inward remittance advice you will need later.

Route 1: export under LUT

You ship without IGST and later claim a refund of the unused input tax credit through RFD-01. This suits most footwear exporters because their inputs carry tax that would otherwise sit idle.

Route 2: export on payment of IGST

You pay IGST on the export invoice, report it in Table 6A of GSTR-1 and in GSTR-3B, and the shipping bill itself acts as the refund claim. Customs releases the refund once the data matches. If the invoice number, date or value differs between GSTR-1 and the shipping bill, the refund simply stops and someone has to trace the error.

Income tax side of exports

Foreign buyers often pay in instalments, and some pay through agents abroad. Keep each remittance advice with the invoice it settles. When the export income is reflected in your books on accrual but the money arrives the next year, the timing difference must be explained in the return, not ignored.

Marble inlay exporters face one extra question: many sell small orders to tourists who ask for shipping abroad. These are still exports if the goods leave India and you hold proof of shipment. Keep the courier airway bill and payment proof together. For help setting up an export-ready structure, our GST consultant team can look at your invoices and LUT before your next order.

From 22 September 2025, a hotel room priced up to ₹7,500 per night attracts 5% GST without input tax credit, and a room above ₹7,500 attracts 18% with credit. The test is the actual price charged, not a declared tariff.

Hotels here deal with a peculiar mix of guests: foreign groups booked months ahead, domestic families who walk in, and wedding parties that take a whole floor. The same property can end up charging two different rates on the same night, and that is perfectly legal as long as each invoice is correct.

What goes wrong most often

• Old "declared tariff" thinking. The declared tariff concept has been removed. Discounts and festive prices change the rate band, so bill on what the guest actually pays.
• OTA statements not reconciled. Online travel platforms deduct their commission, collect GST TCS at 0.5% on supplies routed through them where applicable, and send you a net amount. Your GSTR-1 must show the gross value, and the TCS credit must be accepted on the portal.
• Credit claimed on a 5% room. If you charge 5% on rooms up to ₹7,500, you cannot also take credit on inputs used for them. Mixing this up is a frequent audit point.

Tour operators and guides

Small travel desks near the Taj East Gate often start as one-person businesses earning commission from hotels and taxi operators. GST registration becomes compulsory when aggregate turnover from services crosses ₹20 lakh in a year. Until then, keep a clear record of commissions received, because hotels paying you may deduct TDS and it will show in your AIS.

Income tax for hotels is fairly standard, but depreciation on renovation, loans taken for new rooms and payments to event contractors need careful handling. If your bookkeeping has fallen behind, our accounting and bookkeeping service can bring the books up to date before the tax audit season.

Most petha makers start on the composition scheme because it means one small quarterly payment and less paperwork. It stops working the day you start selling to buyers outside Uttar Pradesh.

Petha is part of Agra's identity, and the trade ranges from tiny counters near the old city to factories supplying shops across North India. Their compliance questions are surprisingly similar.

FSSAI first

Every food business needs FSSAI registration or a licence. From 1 April 2026, basic registration covers small businesses with annual turnover up to ₹1.5 crore, up from ₹12 lakh earlier. Above that, a state licence is needed up to ₹50 crore turnover, and a central licence applies beyond that and to importers and some other categories. Officers do check the licence number printed on boxes, so update your labels when the licence changes. Our FSSAI registration service handles the application and renewal online.

Composition scheme: good fit, with limits

A manufacturer with turnover up to ₹1.5 crore can opt for composition, pay a small percentage of turnover through CMP-08 every quarter and file the annual GSTR-4. The trade-offs:

• You cannot charge GST on your bill or pass credit to buyers.
• You cannot claim input tax credit on sugar, packing or gas.
• You cannot make inter-state outward supplies. A single courier order to a customer in Delhi or Jaipur breaks this condition.

That last point catches many shops that start selling online. If your outside-state orders are growing, it is time to move to the regular scheme and start filing GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B. Leaving the scheme is done online through Form GST CMP-04, and you can then claim credit on stock held on that day under the rules.

Which rate after September 2025?

After the September 2025 rate changes, sugar confectionery, namkeen and most Indian sweets sit at 5%. Petha comes in several forms (dry, angoori, filled, chocolate coated) and the HSN classification decides the rate. Get your product list classified once, print the right HSN on the bill, and keep the note on file. It saves an argument with an officer later.

Cash counters and income tax

Sweet shops collect a lot of cash, but customers increasingly pay by UPI, and every rupee of that is visible in bank data. If your return shows turnover far below the deposits in your accounts, expect a question. Presumptive taxation at 6% for digital receipts and 8% for cash is open to eligible small businesses, but only when the turnover you declare is honest.

The city sits inside the Taj Trapezium Zone, roughly 10,400 sq km covering Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Hathras and Etah in Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur in Rajasthan. Industry here has been under Supreme Court supervision since 1996.

For a CA, the TTZ is not an environmental footnote. It decides whether a client can expand, how long a bank will wait for a project to start, and what goes into the project report. From October 2024, new units and expansions in the zone needed the Supreme Court's permission. On 23 July 2026 the Court relaxed that position, allowing the TTZ Authority to process about 410 pending applications, mostly from non-polluting MSMEs, with experts from the CEC and NEERI present for every decision.

What this means in practice

• Plan expansion paperwork early. A bank sanction letter has a validity period. If approvals take longer than expected, the sanction may lapse.
• Keep the project report realistic. Lenders now ask how the unit fits the zone's rules. We prepare projections and CMA data that match what you can actually do.
• Udyam registration helps. It costs nothing on the government portal and supports priority sector lending and delayed payment protection under the MSMED Act. See our MSME and Udyam registration page.

Running an inlay workshop

Pachchikari is slow, skilled work, done mostly by artisans paid per piece. The MSME ministry's industrial profile of the district estimates about 30,000 people working in marble and stone craft. Most artisans are unregistered, which is fine, but your records must show who was paid, for what and how. Pay through bank or UPI where you can.

Inlay pieces move through several hands: block buyer, cutter, inlay artisan, polisher and finally the showroom. Each transfer between registered businesses needs a GST invoice or a job work challan. When showrooms near the Taj pay heavy commissions to guides and drivers, those payments need proper vouchers and, above the limits, TDS. Unexplained commission is one of the first things questioned in scrutiny.

Raw material rates

Marble and granite blocks fell from 12% to 5% GST in September 2025. Check that your suppliers have updated their invoices, and that you are not claiming credit at the old rate on bills issued after 22 September 2025.

Most of the trouble we see here does not come from complex law. It comes from small habits repeated every month until the gap is too big to ignore.

Here is the list we keep coming back to, roughly in order of how often we meet it.

1. Billing footwear on MRP instead of sale value. The 5% and 18% bands depend on the price per pair on your invoice. Billing on MRP pushes some invoices into the wrong rate.
2. Job work challans that never close. Uppers sent out in March, back in May, never entered. On paper you are short of stock, and an officer reads that as sales without bills.
3. Credit taken without checking GSTR-2B. If your supplier did not file GSTR-1, his invoice will not appear in your GSTR-2B, and the credit you claimed can be reversed with interest.
4. Composition shops selling outside UP. Petha boxes sent by courier to another state break the composition condition. Penalties and tax at the regular rate follow.
5. OTA payouts booked net. Hotels record what lands in the bank, not the gross booking. Turnover in GSTR-1 then falls short of what the platform reports, and the gap shows up in data analytics.
6. Cash deposits that do not match the return. Large cash deposits during the wedding and tourist season are normal for local shops. A return that ignores them invites a notice.
7. Property bought in the family name, not reported. Sub-registrar offices report property deals above set limits. The buyer's source of funds then needs to be explained.

None of these needs a lawyer to fix if caught early. Most can be corrected in the next return or with a short reply. Left alone for two or three years, the same mistakes turn into demand notices with interest and penalty.

The return form depends on your income type, and the usual due date depends on the form and audit status. For FY 2025-26, the dates are 31 July, 31 August and, for audit cases, 21 November 2026 after a CBDT extension.

A big share of households here have mixed income: a shop or workshop, rent from a floor let out, some interest and maybe a pension. That mix decides the form.

Belated returns for FY 2025-26 can be filed up to 31 December 2026 with a late fee of ₹5,000, or ₹1,000 if total income is up to ₹5 lakh. Revised returns can be filed up to 31 March 2027, with a fee if filed after 31 December 2026. For audit cases, CBDT Circular 7/2026 moved the audit report date to 21 October 2026 and the return date to 21 November 2026. The government sometimes extends these dates, so we confirm each year.

The new Act, briefly

The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from 1 April 2026 for tax year 2026-27 onwards. Several forms have new numbers: salary TDS certificates are now Form 130 (earlier Form 16) and the annual tax statement is Form 168 (earlier Form 26AS). Returns for FY 2025-26 and earlier still follow the 1961 Act. So during 2026 you may see both sets of names, and both are correct for their year.

Why notices arrive

Almost every notice we see comes from a data match. Your AIS carries bank interest, share sales, property purchases, large cash deposits and TDS deducted by your customers. If the return does not account for an entry, the system flags it. Reading the AIS before filing, and giving feedback on wrong entries, prevents most of these. Our income tax filing service matches AIS line by line before we file.

For small traders, presumptive taxation still works well: declare at least 6% of digital turnover or 8% of cash turnover as income, within the turnover limits, and skip detailed books. It is not a fit if your real margin is lower, so we compare both ways first.

Have these on your phone before the first call and we can usually give you a clear plan, and a fee, in the same conversation.

You do not need everything at once. The list below is what we look at first, sorted by the kind of work you want done.

Two small tips save a lot of back and forth. First, download your AIS and the GSTR-2B for the last three months yourself if you can, because these tell us where the gaps are. Second, write down in one line what worries you most: a refund, a notice, a buyer asking for a certificate. That one line shapes the whole call.

If you are starting a new business and do not have any of these yet, that is fine too. Tell us what you plan to sell, where, and roughly how much, and we will tell you which registrations you need and in what order. For a private limited company or LLP, our company registration service covers the SPICe+ filing end to end, and ROC Noida (Uttar Pradesh-II) then becomes your registrar.

Everything is shared online. Send documents on WhatsApp or email, or upload them to a shared folder. We talk through the work on call and send drafts for your approval before anything is filed. No trip to Ghaziabad or anywhere else is needed.