CA Inter Registration: Cut-off Dates, Fee and Route Guide

You must be registered for CA Intermediate for at least eight months before the first day of the exam month. That gives three cut-offs, set by ICAI's FAQ (Q3.9):

The table below applies that rule to your own date. It is our working of ICAI's rule, not a table ICAI publishes. Find the window your payment falls in.

As of October 2026, the cut-offs for January 2027 (1 May 2026) and May 2027 (1 September 2026) have passed. The September 2027 attempt is open until 1 January 2027.

To check any date, count eight months back from the 1st of the exam month. The table gives the earliest attempt, not a guarantee. You still submit an exam form for that attempt, and provisional registrants must also have graduated (next section).

Use the Foundation route if you have passed the CA Foundation exam and Class 12. Use direct entry if you hold a commerce degree with at least 55%, a non-commerce degree with at least 60%, or have passed the Intermediate level of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) or the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICMAI), per ICAI's FAQ (Q3.2 and Q3.3).

A student in semester 5 of a three-year BCom is in the last year of graduation, so provisional registration is open to you. Submit your marksheet within six months of appearing for the final graduation exam, or ICAI will not confirm the registration (Q3.8). If your marks fall short, the registration is cancelled (Q3.7).

Our recommendation: register provisionally before the cut-off if your degree percentage is comfortably above 55% or 60%. Waiting for results can cost you a full attempt. If you are close to the mark, the risk of cancellation matters more than the date.

No. ICAI's FAQ Q3.12 says you may appear in one group at a time but must register for both groups, so the fee is ₹18,000 (₹18,200 for direct entry). The ₹13,000 "Group I / II" column in ICAI's fee chart is not an option for new registrations under Q3.12.

The fee chart breaks the ₹18,000 down as follows (as of October 2026; the undated chart matched the FAQ of 27 September 2024 when checked).

Other costs before and after your first attempt:

Our sum, as of October 2026: ₹18,000 registration plus ₹2,700 exam form is ₹20,700 on the Foundation route and ₹20,900 for direct entry. Adding ICITSS, which you complete before you start articleship, brings it to ₹34,200 and ₹34,400. These totals exclude coaching and books. Our CA articleship guide with the two-year rule and offer checklist covers the training that follows, and our CA course fees guide adds the costs of the later stages.

Registering one day after the cut-off, for example on 2 January instead of 1 January, moves your first attempt to the next window, because ICAI counts eight months on or before the 1st (FAQ Q3.9). The 2 January payment is valid, but the September exam is no longer open to you.

Our recommendation: pay at least a week before the cut-off, so a failed payment or a missing document does not push you into the next window, and keep the receipt as proof of the date.

Two other points cost attempts:

• Registration is not the exam form. Registration makes you eligible, and you also file an exam application for each attempt. ICAI publishes the fee chart and important dates for each attempt on its examination pages, for example January 2027.
• A provisional registration needs follow-through. The marksheet deadline and the required marks are set out in the route section above.

Register through ICAI's Self Service Portal (SSP) at eservices.icai.org, as ICAI's FAQ (Q1.3) specifies. The portal's user guides are on ICAI's SSP help page. The steps:

1. Open the portal and log in.
2. Choose the Intermediate course and your entry route.
3. Enter your details and add the marksheets that prove your route.
4. Pay the fee online.
5. Save the receipt.
6. After registration, every Intermediate student receives an email with login details for the Centralized Distribution System (CDS) portal, where study material is ordered (Q3.14). Direct-entry students also get the prospectus with their first order (Q3.11).

Before you pay, run these five checks. Each has a pass and a fail.

• Route check. Pass: you hold a Foundation result plus Class 12, or your degree percentage is at or above 55% (commerce) or 60% (other streams). Fail: the percentage is below the bar, so use provisional registration only if you are in the final year.
• Date check. Pass: the payment date on your receipt will be on or before the cut-off for your target attempt (1 May, 1 September or 1 January). Fail: it falls after the cut-off, so use the next window in the table. Paying a week early is our recommendation, not a requirement.
• Fee check. Pass: the portal shows ₹18,000, or ₹18,200 for direct entry. Fail: any other figure, so write to ICAI before paying.
• Provisional check (provisional registrants only). Pass: your marksheet submission date is within six months of your final graduation exam. Fail: it is later.
• Receipt check. Pass: you hold the receipt showing the payment date. Fail: the page closed without one, so contact the student helpdesk straight away.

For portal problems write to ssp.student@icai.in, listed on the SSP help page. For course queries write to the Board of Studies at bosnoida@icai.in.

Count the weeks from your registration date to the 1st of your target exam month, reserve the last part for revision and mocks, and divide the rest across the six papers. Eight months is the minimum registration period, not a study plan. This method is our recommendation, and the numbers below are our model, not an ICAI figure.

Worked example: you register on 10 October 2026 and target September 2027. That is 326 days, about 46 weeks, to 1 September 2027. Assume 10 weeks for revision and full-length mocks. The remaining 36 weeks divided across six papers gives 6 weeks per paper. If your weeks per paper fall well below that, move to the next window in the finder rather than rushing the earliest attempt. Our CA Intermediate syllabus guide with the six papers and pass rules lists the papers, and our CA Inter pass percentage guide for the May 2026 results shows what recent results look like.

Our CA Intermediate classes run in morning and evening batches, online and offline, at our Jayanagar and Malleshwaram branches in Bangalore, with unlimited mock tests and recorded classes. Our guide to online CA classes by level and attempt explains how to match a format to your situation. When you call us, we work backwards from your target attempt in the same way.

Fees depend on the batch and format, so ask us for the current figure. Call us now on +91 7899084146 or +91 8073702708, or contact us and we will map your registration date to your first attempt in one conversation.