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Advance tax when your income is lumpy
The instalment schedule assumes you know in June what you will earn by March. Freelancers do not, and the rules…
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Startup Finance
Entity choice, cap table hygiene, the paperwork investors diligence, and staying compliant while you are still small.
Choose the structure for where you are going
A private limited company is what institutional investors fund; an LLP is cheaper to run but cannot issue equity or ESOPs in the same way; a proprietorship is fine until the first outside rupee arrives. Converting later is possible but costs time exactly when you have none.
Keep the cap table clean from day one #
Founder shares issued and paid for, vesting agreed in writing, an ESOP pool created before the first offer letter promises options, and every convertible instrument documented. Diligence failures at Series A are almost always housekeeping from year one.
Valuation and funding paperwork #
Issuing shares above face value to a resident requires a valuation report supporting the price; foreign investment brings FEMA reporting through the RBI's FIRMS portal within the prescribed window. Both are routine if planned, expensive if remembered late.
What you will need
- Certificate of incorporation, MOA and AOA
- Shareholders' agreement and share certificates
- Cap table with all convertible instruments
- Board and shareholder resolutions
- Valuation report for the last issue of shares
- Statutory registers and annual filings
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Startup Finance
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Clean books are cheaper to maintain than to reconstruct.