Can you tell where the business ends and the family begins?
Kolkata is where we are, and its family trading businesses present a bookkeeping problem that is cultural before it is technical. In a business run by three generations, personal and business money have often flowed through the same accounts for decades, property is held in individual names, and loans between family members and the firm are recorded as understandings rather than as documents. Separating them is the work, and it is easier done across a table than over email.
Deep historical ledgers with very high party counts, related party balances that have never been documented, drawings and personal expenses running through business accounts, and inventory tracked by knowledge rather than by system.
The separation matters for reasons that arrive later. Related party transactions attract disclosure and scrutiny. A lender assessing the business cannot form a view when personal drawings are indistinguishable from operating costs. A succession or a family settlement requires knowing what belongs to whom. And an assessing officer looking at unexplained credits in a business account has a straightforward line of enquiry. None of this is difficult to fix going forward. It is fixed by drawing the line at a date, documenting the position as at that date, and holding the discipline monthly from then on. For Kolkata clients we do that first meeting in the office, because it is a conversation about the family as much as about the ledger.
West Bengal levies professional tax alongside PF and ESI in the monthly payroll cycle, with enrolment for the entity and registration for the employer.
The reason this stopped being a matter of tidiness is that reconciliation moved upstream of the return. Auto-populated outward liability in GSTR-3B has been non-editable since the July 2025 tax period and Table 3.2 has been system-locked since the November 2025 period, so a mistake in GSTR-1 is corrected through GSTR-1A before you file rather than adjusted afterwards. The Invoice Management System treats inaction on an inward invoice as acceptance, so input credit is settled by what happened during the month. And a GSTR-3B cannot be filed more than three years after its due date, so an old backlog is a shrinking asset rather than a static problem. The month is now where compliance is decided, and the return only reports it.
| Item | Position as at August 2026 |
|---|---|
| Who must keep books, individuals and HUF | Income above Rs 2,50,000 or turnover above Rs 25 lakh in any of the 3 preceding years |
| Who must keep books, others | Income above Rs 1,20,000 or turnover above Rs 10 lakh, on the same test |
| Governing provision | Section 62 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, which carries forward the old section 44AA |
| Penalty for not keeping them | Rs 25,000 under section 441 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 |
| Electronic books | Rule 46(8) of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 requires a daily backup on servers located in India |
| Retention, income tax | Seven tax years from the end of the relevant tax year, under Rule 46(9) |
| Retention, Companies Act | Eight financial years, section 128(5). The longest applicable period governs |
| Retention, GST | 72 months from the due date of the annual return, extended during proceedings |
| GST edit log | Rule 56(8). Required for electronic records, every registered person, since 2017 |
| Company audit trail | Rule 3(1), Companies (Accounts) Rules 2014, financial years from 1 April 2023 |
| GSTR-3B outward liability | Auto-populated and non-editable since the July 2025 tax period |
| MSME creditors | Deduction deferred until paid where a micro or small supplier is paid late |
| Plan | Fee | Built for |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | Rs 2,499 a month | Up to 100 transactions a month, one GSTIN |
| Growth | Rs 6,999 a month | Up to 400 transactions, up to three GSTINs |
| Controller | Rs 17,999 a month | High volume, multi-state, or reporting to outsiders |
| Backlog clean-up | From Rs 9,999 | Prior periods rebuilt, sequenced oldest first |
| Books health check | Rs 4,999 | Written diagnosis, credited against the first retainer |
Priced on transaction volume and the number of GSTINs rather than on turnover, because that is what actually drives the work.
Every price above is a professional fee, excluding GST and government charges. 50% on delivery.
All fees and charges listed are indicative only and do not constitute a binding offer. Final amounts may vary depending on the volume of work and the complexity involved.
By drawing a line at a date rather than trying to unpick the past. We document the position as at that date, establish which balances are genuinely related party items and record them properly, and hold the separation monthly from then on. Attempting to reconstruct twenty years of mixed transactions is expensive and rarely produces a defensible answer. A clean line and consistent discipline afterwards does.
Yes. We are at 129A Bangur Avenue, Block A, near Reliance Smart, Kolkata 700055. For a family business the first review is as much a conversation about who owns what and how the family has operated as it is about the ledger, and that goes considerably better in a room. The monthly close afterwards runs remotely like any other engagement.
For you, no. For anyone else reading the books, including a lender, a buyer or an officer, yes. Ledger names that encode a relationship rather than an accounting nature mean nobody outside the family can interpret the accounts. Remapping to a proper chart of accounts, with the historical balances carried across correctly, is a one-time exercise and it is usually the most valuable thing we do for a long-established Kolkata business.
Tell us what you need and a real CA calls you back, with no scripts and no transfers. Call 72783 76654. Mon - Sat, 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM IST.
Reviewed by the CA and CS Team, CorporateWalla · Last updated 17 August 2026 · · Sources: GST portal, Income Tax Department, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Udyam Registration portal
Canonical: https://corporatewalla.com/services/monthly-bookkeeping/kolkata
