The accounting process for a company can be segregated into two parts:

• The records of the company are well maintained
• For filing of taxes, the amount needs to be calculated. In the absence of bookkeeping and entries, calculation of taxes is prone to errors.
• For Private Limited Companies and other entities which meet the revenue criteria, auditing is mandatory. Bookkeeping is the process of creation of the books which are audited by the auditor. It is advisable to maintain monthly books of accounts which can be audited at the end of the financial year instead of creating the accounts in the end.

Tax filings and returns are mandatory and needed to be done by every business for which they are applicable.

The taxes and returns applicable to a business depends on its nature of business, scale and geography. However, on a broad level, most of the businesses have to comply with the following:

1. GST: The business needs to file GSTR 3 (b) before 20th day of the next month. The GST amount needs to be deposited with the GST department.
2. TDS: A business is required to deduct the applicable TDS while making any payment. This TDS amount is to be deposited with the Income Tax department before the 7th of next month.
3. Professional tax: Businesses with employees applicable for Professional Tax have to deduct this amount from their salaries and deposit it with the Professional Tax department of the state.
4. PF filings: For companies with PF registration, the PF amount of the contributions from the employees and the employer needs to be deposited with the PF department before the 10th of the next month.
5. ESI filings: For companies with ESI registration, the ESI amount of the contributions from the employees and the employer needs to be deposited with the PF department before the 10th of the next month.

The taxes and returns applicable to a business depends on its nature of business, scale and geography. However, on a broad level, most of the businesses have to comply with the following:

1. GST Returns: Both monthly (GSTR-3B) and quarterly (GSTR-1) returns need to be filed.GSTR-1 has to be filed every quarter
2. TDS Returns: This has to be filed every quarter

Please note that the returns need to be filed even when there is no transaction or no tax collection. Failure to do so will attract penalty.

If you have taken GST Registration, then you will have to do GST Returns. Even if you have not done any business transactions in the quarter/ month you will still need to file GST Returns.

TDS means Tax Deducted at Source. When any dealer makes any payment to any vendor, the dealer has to deduct TDS from the original amount.

• TDS is paid to Government through the Income Tax department every month
• Every quarter TDS returns need to be filed to the IT department. Here we need to give the details of every deduction made in that quarter. Details involves name of the vendor, PAN number, purpose of payment etc.

Payroll processing the process of salaries to your employees according to company policy and statutory requirements. The net amount to be payable to every employee will have to be calculated each month after accounting for deductions like fines & penalties, advances, statutory deductions like PF, ESI, Gratuity, health insurance and additions like reimbursements, bonuses and incentives as per company policy and statutory requirements. It also includes deciding the salary structure, generation of payslips and generation of form 16.

These softwares can be used by you or anyone else (professional) to create the book of accounts for a company. However, it is advisable to have a qualified professional help you maintain the books of accounts for your company (using these software), since:

• Their expertise lies in maintaining the books and make it a very streamlined and smooth process.
• Laws and amendments are enacted by the government frequently. A professional is updated with the changes and hence in a better position to avoid any mistake or missing on compliances or deadlines