ICAI Articleship Forms Explained: Form 102, 103, 109 and 112

Four ICAI articleship forms cover almost everything that happens during your practical training. Form 102 is the Articleship Deed, the agreement you sign with your Principal. Next, Form 103 registers that articleship with ICAI. For termination or transfer, Form 109 ends the articleship or moves it to a new Principal. Form 112 takes ICAI’s permission to pursue another course, such as B.Com, alongside training. Use the right form at the right time and your two years of articleship stay clean on ICAI’s records from the first day to the last.

Under ICAI’s New Scheme of Education and Training, articleship runs for two years. You can start only after passing both groups of CA Intermediate and completing ICITSS. If you have just cleared Intermediate, read our guide on the CA Intermediate result and what to do next before you approach a firm. Almost all articleship filing now happens online on ICAI’s Self Service Portal (SSP) at eservices.icai.org, using the same login ICAI issued at course registration.

ICAI articleship forms at a glance

Quick answer: Form 102 is the deed you execute on stamp paper with your Principal. Within 30 days, Form 103 registers the articleship on the SSP portal. Form 109 ends or transfers it. Form 112 takes ICAI permission for another course such as B.Com.

Students meet these forms in a fixed order. The deed and the registration come first, in your opening week. You need the permission form only if a second course runs alongside training. The termination form appears at the end of training, or earlier if you change firms. Each section below covers what a form does, who files it, its deadline, and how the filing works.

ICAI articleship forms: Form 102, the Articleship Deed

Form 102, the Deed of Articles, is the formal agreement between you, the articled assistant, and your Principal, the practising Chartered Accountant who will train you. It records the terms of the training relationship and starts your articleship in law, not just in the firm’s attendance register.

You execute the deed on non-judicial stamp paper of the value your state prescribes, and both you and your Principal sign it. One detail causes more trouble than any other: the date on the stamp paper must fall within 30 days of the date your articleship commences. ICAI’s own articleship FAQ is blunt on two points. You have to execute the deed for every articleship, even when Form 103 goes in on time. Skip the stamp paper the regulations require, and the articles training is invalid.

You do not post the deed anywhere. Keep the executed original safe as your contract record, because you upload a scanned, signed copy of Form 102 on the SSP portal along with Form 103. ICAI’s FAQ confirms that you need not send any physical copy of Forms 102 or 103 to the Regional Office. Download and save your own copies of both forms before the Regional Office approves them, since approved forms are no longer accessible on the portal afterwards.

ICAI articleship forms: Form 103, the Registration Form

Form 103, the Statement of Particulars, is the registration form that puts your articleship on ICAI’s official record. Signing the deed alone is not enough. Until ICAI approves Form 103, it does not count your training as registered.

The filing is fully online. Log in to the SSP portal at eservices.icai.org, open the articleship section, fill in Form 103 and upload the scanned deed and supporting documents. Your Principal then approves the form on the portal, after which you submit it for Regional Office approval, again online. The deadline is strict: Form 103 must reach ICAI within 30 days of the commencement of your articleship.

The articleship registration fee is Rs 2,000, and you pay it once. Many students have already paid this amount as part of their Intermediate course registration, in which case ICAI does not charge it again. The portal shows the exact amount payable in your case, so treat the figure on your SSP screen as final before you pay.

Late filing is possible, but it costs money and paperwork. ICAI’s FAQ sets out condonation fees for delayed submission of Form 103, along with a condonation letter that both the student and the Principal sign: a delay of more than 30 days costs Rs 500, more than 60 days costs Rs 1,000, more than six months costs Rs 2,000, and more than twelve months costs Rs 10,000. File in the first month and none of this applies.

Form 103 also returns when you change firms. After a transfer, you register with the new Principal by executing a fresh Form 102 and filing a fresh Form 103, again within 30 days of joining.

ICAI articleship forms: Form 109, Termination and Transfer

Form 109 is the termination of articles form that you and your Principal sign when your articleship with that Principal ends. It serves two situations: training that genuinely ends, and the far more common one, a transfer, where you terminate with the current Principal and re-register with a new one.

In the first year of articleship, transfer is free. ICAI’s FAQ confirms that you need no specific reason and no prior approval from ICAI. Mutual consent between you and your Principal is enough. The signed Form 109 goes directly onto the SSP portal along with the consent letter your Principal signs. ICAI’s FAQ indicates a response time of about seven working days for a first-year case.

After the first year, the rules tighten sharply. ICAI allows transfer or termination only on specified grounds, and you must obtain ICAI’s prior written permission before getting Form 109 signed. The recognised grounds include medical reasons requiring discontinuance of articles for at least three months, with a medical certificate from a government hospital; transfer of your parents to another city; misconduct involving moral turpitude; moving to industrial training; secondment; death of the Principal or the Principal ceasing practice; non-payment of stipend; marriage that involves relocation; and your Principal shifting to another city. ICAI’s FAQ notes that a second-year student who files under the first-year option will have the form rejected. If your Principal refuses consent for a transfer, ICAI’s articleship FAQ directs you to the Form 120 process instead of leaving you stuck.

ICAI articleship forms: Form 112, Permission for Another Course

Regulation 65 of the Chartered Accountants Regulations draws a hard line: during articleship, you cannot pursue any other course of study or training, or engage in any business or occupation, without ICAI’s prior permission. Form 112 is how you take that permission.

The requirement applies whatever the mode of the other course. Regular college, correspondence, distance learning and online courses all need Form 112. The most common case is a B.Com or another graduation degree running alongside articleship, often one joined before articleship even began. ICAI permits one additional course at a time, and it must not clash with your articleship working hours.

File Form 112 within 30 days of joining the course, or within 30 days of starting articleship if the course was already running, with your Principal’s recommendation. Your college also countersigns the form. The risk of skipping it is serious: student guidance based on the ICAI prospectus warns that if you break these rules, ICAI may not recognise the articleship period. File the form when you enrol, not when somebody asks for it in your final year.

ICAI articleship forms compared: all four forms in one table

Form	What it is for	Who signs or files	When	Where
Form 102	Articleship Deed: the agreement between student and Principal	Student and Principal	Stamp paper dated within 30 days of commencement	Executed on stamp paper; scanned copy uploaded on SSP
Form 103	Registering the articleship with ICAI	Student files online; Principal approves on the portal	Within 30 days of commencement	SSP portal, eservices.icai.org
Form 109	Termination of articleship, including for a transfer	Student and Principal	At termination; free in year one, approved grounds only after that	SSP portal
Form 112	Permission to pursue another course or engagement	Student, with the Principal’s recommendation	Within 30 days of joining the course	SSP portal

Common mistakes students make with ICAI articleship forms

• Buying the stamp paper on the wrong date. A deed that you execute on stamp paper with a date outside the 30-day window around your joining date is defective, and ICAI treats training without a proper deed as invalid.
• Letting Form 103 drift. Every slab of delay adds a condonation fee, rising to Rs 10,000 after twelve months, plus a signed condonation letter. The first month costs nothing.
• Joining B.Com quietly. A degree without Form 112 permission can put the recognition of your articleship period at risk. Distance and online courses count too.
• Assuming a second-year transfer works like a first-year one. After year one you need a recognised ground and ICAI’s prior permission, and filing under the wrong option gets the form rejected.
• Posting paper copies to the Regional Office. The process runs on the SSP portal. You do not need to courier anything.
• Losing your own copies. Once the Regional Office approves Forms 102 and 103, they are no longer accessible on the portal. Save PDFs before approval.

Frequently asked questions

Is CA articleship registration fully online now?

Almost entirely, yes. You file Forms 103, 109 and 112 on the SSP portal at eservices.icai.org, and Principal and Regional Office approval also happens online. The one physical piece is Form 102, executed on stamp paper; you upload its scanned, signed copy with Form 103.

What happens if you file Form 103 late?

You can still file the form, with a condonation letter that you and your Principal sign, plus a condonation fee. Per ICAI’s articleship FAQ, the fee is Rs 500 for a delay over 30 days, Rs 1,000 over 60 days, Rs 2,000 over six months and Rs 10,000 over twelve months.

Can I pursue B.Com along with articleship?

Yes, with permission. ICAI allows one additional course at a time, and you take it through Form 112 within 30 days of joining the course, provided it does not clash with your articleship working hours. This applies to regular, distance and online modes alike.

Can I take a transfer in the second year of articleship?

Only on specified grounds, such as medical reasons, your parents moving city, or shifting to industrial training, and only once you obtain ICAI’s prior written permission ahead of signing Form 109. In the first year, by contrast, transfer needs nothing more than mutual consent with your Principal.

What is the articleship registration fee?

The one-time articleship registration fee is Rs 2,000. If you already paid it as part of your Intermediate registration, ICAI does not charge it again. The SSP portal displays the amount actually payable in your case, so confirm there before paying.