Build a fee quotation from the ICAI Minimum Recommended Scale of Fees – the February 2020 revision, still the current one in July 2026. Pick your city class, add the services with quantities, and get the recommended minimum with GST worked out – then download the whole thing as a ready-to-send Word quotation. Straight talk: the scale is recommendatory, not mandatory – your actual fee is a matter of agreement with the client. But since July 2026, an extremely low quote in a tender can be referred to the Director (Discipline), so knowing the recommended floor matters more than it used to.
Fee calculator
How the ICAI fee scale works
| Point | Position (verified July 2026) |
|---|---|
| Current version | The Revised Minimum Recommended Scale of Fees dated 11 February 2020, issued by ICAI’s committee for members in practice – no later revision exists; ICAI’s own online calculator (September 2024, on the Tender Monitoring Directorate site) computes from the same 2020 scale |
| Status | Recommendatory. The document itself says members are free to charge varying rates depending on the nature and complexity of the assignment – the actual fee is a matter of agreement between the member and the client |
| City classes | Class A: Delhi, Greater Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad. Class B: around seventy listed cities (broadly the government HRA classification). Class C: everywhere else. The class is decided by where the SERVICE PROVIDER practises, not where the client is |
| What the figures mean | Each figure is a recommended minimum (“and above”) for the ordinary case; several services carry no fixed figure and are to be billed on complexity and time, using the per-day and hourly rates |
| GST | Extra, at 18 percent – CA services fall under SAC heading 9982, charged on forward-charge basis (you invoice and collect); registration threshold Rs 20 lakh aggregate turnover for services |
| TDS on your fees | Clients deduct TDS on professional fees at 10 percent where payments exceed Rs 50,000 in a financial year (threshold raised from Rs 30,000 with effect from 1 April 2025) |
| The tender warning | Since July 2026, where a fee quoted in a tender is extremely low and not commensurate with the size, value, volume, manpower and nature of the work, the matter can be referred to the Director (Discipline). There is no numeric floor – but quoting far below scale now carries real risk in tenders |
| Bank branch audits | A separate, RBI-prescribed fee schedule applies to bank branch statutory audits – twelve slabs by branch advances, from Rs 44,250 (advances up to Rs 10 crore) to Rs 4,74,350 (above Rs 5,000 crore), per the March 2023 circular still in force |
CA fees – FAQs
Is the ICAI fee scale mandatory?
No – it is expressly recommendatory. The scale’s own text says members are free to charge varying rates depending on the nature and complexity of the assignment, and that the actual fee is a matter of agreement between the member and the client. There is no disciplinary consequence for charging below scale in ordinary client work.
Then why does the scale matter at all?
Three reasons. It is the only institutional benchmark for pricing professional work; clients issuing tenders increasingly reference it; and since July 2026 an extremely low tender quote – one not commensurate with the size and manpower the work needs – can be referred to the Director (Discipline). The floor is soft in private engagements and getting harder in tenders.
Was a minimum fee ever mandatory?
Once, narrowly: from 2004 ICAI prescribed a small mandatory minimum audit fee for firms with four or more partners, which became part of the 2008 Council General Guidelines. The Council repealed it in June 2011. The old undercutting clause in the First Schedule went even earlier, omitted by the 2006 amendment to the CA Act.
Which fee scale version does this calculator use?
The Revised Minimum Recommended Scale of Fees dated 11 February 2020 – verified in July 2026 as still the current version. ICAI’s own fee calculator, launched in September 2024, computes from the same 2020 figures. Beware older reproductions floating around the web: pre-2020 editions had only two city classes and lower figures.
My city is not Delhi or Mumbai – which class am I?
Class A covers the eight largest metros. Class B covers roughly seventy listed cities – state capitals and major industrial cities (the list broadly mirrors the government HRA classification). Everything else is Class C. The class follows your place of practice, not the client’s location – a Class C practitioner serving a Mumbai client applies Class C rates.
How should I price work the scale lists without a figure?
Several entries – large company audits, transfer pricing, search and seizure work, NCLT representation – carry no fixed figure and are to be billed on complexity and time. Use the per-day rates (principal, qualified and semi-qualified assistant) in the calculator’s per-day category to build those quotes bottom-up from the estimated effort.
Do I add GST on top of these fees?
Yes – the scale is exclusive of GST. CA services attract 18 percent GST under SAC heading 9982 on forward charge, once your aggregate turnover crosses the Rs 20 lakh registration threshold. The calculator adds it as a separate line, the way your invoice should.
What TDS will the client deduct from my fees?
10 percent under the professional-fees provision, where the payments to you exceed Rs 50,000 in the financial year – the threshold was raised from Rs 30,000 with effect from 1 April 2025. The client deposits it against your PAN; it shows up in your 26AS/AIS and adjusts against your tax.
Can I charge a percentage of the refund or profits as my fee?
Generally no – fees based on a percentage of profits or contingent on results are professional misconduct under the First Schedule, with narrow exceptions permitted by Regulation 192 (receiver or liquidator work, co-operative society audit, valuation for direct taxes). Price on scope and effort, not outcomes.
Is there any fee I cannot undercut at all?
Bank branch statutory audit fees are RBI-prescribed by slab of branch advances – from Rs 44,250 to Rs 4,74,350 under the March 2023 circular – so there is nothing to quote. And in tenders for CA-exclusive work, responding is itself restricted unless the tender prescribes a minimum fee; extremely low tender quotes can now draw disciplinary attention.
Method notes: rates transcribed from the ICAI Revised Minimum Recommended Scale of Fees dated 11 February 2020 (the current version, verified against ICAI’s Tender Monitoring Directorate pages and calculator in July 2026); status, city classification, GST, TDS, percentage-fee and tender positions verified against the Chartered Accountants Act First Schedule, Regulation 192, the Code of Ethics (13th edition, effective 1 April 2026), the Finance Act 2025 TDS threshold change and the July 2026 ICAI announcement on low tender quotes. The scale is recommendatory; figures are minimums for the ordinary case and several services are billed on time and complexity instead. Nothing here is a substitute for your own fee judgment. Calculations run entirely in your browser. Reviewed by a practising CA; updated July 2026.