The Indian Government in a rare move has introduced the concept of Geo-tagging for the Companies. The Government is aware that there are a lot many Companies registered in India, but what it aims at knowing is the Actual No. of Companies operating in India.
Now many must be wondering what the difference is between ‘registered’ and ‘operating’. So, for a Company to be registered it must satisfy the criteria’s laid out for registration on paper, as for instance, the minimum no. directors/shareholders, the minimum A/sc & P/Up capital and so on…. But for a Company to be operating there must be some activity, i.e. implementing the Objects for which it was incorporated.
Recently the term Shell Companies was a lot in news, they are those companies which are only registered and not operating. Books of shell companies are well maintained. They have their accounts audited, tax returns filed regularly and a functioning bank account. In most cases, directors and shareholders are unrelated persons and often untraceable. Except their identities, they have no direct stake. This brings in the element of deniability and anonymity, in case they are caught. Absence of common data base of bank accounts, tax returns and company details make it easy for shell companies to comply with individual statutory agencies. For instance, there is no violation of income tax act as long as they pay their tax due.
The government with the introduction of e-form ACTIVE (INC-22A), handles this issue of Shell Companies, wherein a lot many Company are registered form a single address by introducing for the first time the concept of Geo-Tagging in India.
How it Actually works:
Geo Tagging, is the process of adding geographical identification metadata to various media such as a geotagged photograph or video, websites, SMS messages, QR Codes[1] or RSS feeds and is a form of geospatial metadata. This data usually consists of latitude and longitude coordinates, though they can also include altitude, bearing, distance, accuracy data, and place names, and perhaps a time stamp.
(source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotagging )
Geotagging can help users find a wide variety of location-specific information from a device. For instance, someone can find images taken near a given location by entering latitude and longitude coordinates into a suitable image search engine.
Eform ACTIVE – 21.02.2019
Every company incorporated on or before the 31st December, 2017 shall file the particulars of the company and its registered office, in e-Form ACTIVE (Active Company Tagging Identities and Verification) on or before 25.04.2019.
Any company which has not filed its due financial statements under section 137 or due annual returns under section 92 or both with the Registrar shall be restricted from filing e-Form-ACTIVE.
Consequences of late filing:
1. Shall be marked as “ACTlVE-non-compliant” on or after 26th April, 2019.
2. Company will not be able to change its p/up capital; authorized capital; directors; registered office if it has not filed the e-form ACTIVE. Also it will not be able to go for amalgamation/merger /demerger.
3. Company files “e-Form ACTIVE”, on or after 26th April’ 2019, the company shall be marked as “ACTIVE Compliant”, on payment of fee of ten thousand rupees“
Requirements for filing e-form ACTIVE (INC-22A)-
1) Photograph of registered Office showing external building and inside office. Also showing therein at least one director KMP who has affixed his/her DSC to this form.
2) Email ID and OTP generated on EMAIL ID
3) List of all Directors of the Company with Active status of DIN. If any Director on Board of the Company who does not have the Active DIN status, Company will not be able to file eForm INC 22A.
4) Details of Auditor/s
5) Details of Cost Auditor/s ,if any.
6) Details of CEO, CFO and CS, if any
7) SRN of AOC4/ AOC4 XBRL and MGT-7.
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