Section 34(4) of the Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008 says the accounts of an LLP shall be audited in accordance with the Rules. Rule 24(8) of the LLP Rules 2009 then carves out the exception: an LLP whose turnover does not exceed ₹40 lakh in any financial year, or whose contribution does not exceed ₹25 lakh, is not required to get its accounts audited. In practice — and in the way Form 8 is built — this is applied as a two-limit test: once turnover goes above ₹40 lakh or contribution goes above ₹25 lakh, the accounts for that year are audited by a chartered accountant in practice. Both words in the limits matter: the figures must be exceeded, so exactly ₹40 lakh or exactly ₹25 lakh is still inside the exemption.
Tax audit is a separate test under a separate law. For FY 2025-26 Section 44AB of the Income-tax Act 1961 applies where business turnover exceeds ₹1 crore — or ₹10 crore where cash receipts and cash payments are each within 5% of the totals — or where gross receipts from a profession exceed ₹50 lakh. For FY 2026-27 the same requirement sits in Section 63 of the Income-tax Act 2025. Because every one of those limits is above ₹40 lakh, an LLP that needs a tax audit always needs an LLP Act audit too; the reverse is not true. An LLP is also shut out of the presumptive schemes for small businesses and professionals, so it can neither use them to avoid keeping books nor be pushed into audit by declaring income below a presumptive rate.
The LLP Act audit changes two things beyond the audit itself. First, the tax audit report goes in Form 3CA rather than Form 3CB, because the accounts are already audited under another law. Second, the income-tax return moves into the audited bracket — 31 October instead of 31 August — even where no tax audit applies, because the return table looks at whether the accounts are required to be audited under the Income-tax Act or any other law. An LLP that stays under both limits still keeps double-entry books, prepares its Statement of Account and Solvency, and files Form 8 by 30 October and Form 11 by 30 May every year.
A two-partner consulting LLP has gross receipts of ₹55 lakh in FY 2025-26, almost all through the bank, on a contribution of ₹2 lakh. The partners assume no audit is needed because turnover is well under ₹1 crore.
