Tax audit register: 60-audit cap and UDIN
Every partner's tax audits against ICAI's cap of 60, with UDIN, PAN and form checks before the portal rejects them.
Saved in this browser only. Log in to share the register with your partners.
No audits signed in FY 2026-27 yet.
Add them one by one, or import the list you already keep in Excel.
Rules from the Chartered Accountants (Limit on Number of Tax Audits) Guidelines 2025, in force from 1 April 2026 (ICAI notification). ICAI will prescribe the format of the record every member must keep; this register holds the details the guidelines count on and exports them to Excel.
IN SHORT
From 1 April 2026 ICAI limits every chartered accountant, and every partner of a firm, to 60 tax audits a year, counted in the year the report is signed and across all firms the partner belongs to. This free register counts each partner's audits the way the guidelines do, leaving out 44AB(c), (d) and (e) audits and revised reports, and checks every entry's UDIN, PAN and form before the e-filing portal rejects it.
STEP BY STEP
How it works
- Add each tax audit as it is signed, or import the list you already keep in Excel.
- Watch each partner's count against 60 for the year of signing; the register turns amber at 50 and red at 60.
- Fix what it flags (a UDIN that does not carry the partner's membership number, a missing PAN, a UDIN generated more than 60 days after signing), then export the register.
GOOD TO KNOW
Common questions
- Which tax audits count towards the limit of 60?
- Audits under section 44AB, counted in the financial year the report is signed. Each year's audit of a client is a separate assignment, a head office and its branches count as one, and joint audits count. Audits under 44AB(c), (d) and (e), which arise when a person under 44AE, 44ADA or 44AD declares lower profit, and revised reports are not counted.
- Can partners share the limit?
- No. The limit is 60 for each partner, it cannot be pooled or transferred, and a partner in several firms has one combined limit of 60 across all of them and their own name.
- From when does the limit apply?
- From 1 April 2026, under the Chartered Accountants (Limit on Number of Tax Audits) Guidelines 2025. Tax audit reports for FY 2025-26 signed in September 2026 therefore count towards FY 2026-27.
- What does the e-filing portal check in a UDIN now?
- Since 18 February 2026 it validates the UDIN against the membership number, the year, the form number and the client's PAN, and the UDIN portal requires the PAN for tax audits. A UDIN must still be generated within 60 days of signing.
- Which form is the tax audit report?
- Forms 3CA or 3CB with 3CD for FY 2025-26 and earlier years. From tax year 2026-27, under the Income-tax Act 2025, it is the new Form 26.