FLA Return Filing Under FEMA 1999

Overview:-

In this article we shall discuss about FLA Return & Process of Filing it. FLA Return is a mandatory filling under FEMA 1999. Non-filing of the return before due date will be treated as a violation of FEMA and penalty clause may be invoked for violation of FEMA.

We have come up with this article to provide some minute and simple details for filing FLA Return to avoid any difficulty. We have our own way of discussing and explaining things. Hope this article would help you in gaining some knowledge.

Let’s go through some points:-

FLA Full Form:-

FLA stands for Foreign Liabilities and Assets.

Meaning of FLA Return:-

It’s an Annual Return on Foreign Liabilities and Assets required to be filed by an Indian Company and LLP to RBI within the prescribed due date.

This Return is filed Online on RBI Portal. The portal on which you can file the return is   https://flair.rbi.org.in/fla/

Requirement to file FLA Return:-

The Companies which have received FDI (Foreign Direct Investments) and/or made FDI abroad in any of the financial year are required to submit FLA Return to RBI.

The Financial Statement of the company for such particular FY can exactly explains the status of Inward FDI or Outward FDI.

Due date of Filing of FLA Return:-

The companies are required to submit the FLA Return based on audited/unaudited account by July 15 of every year.

If the FLA Return is submitted on the basis of unaudited account by July 15, they are supposed to submit the revised FLA return based on audited accounts by end – September i.e. 30^th September.

Audited or Unaudited Financials:-

If the company’s financials are not audited or finalized before the due date of submission of the Return, then FLA Return needs to be submitted on the basis of the Unaudited or provisional financials.

But this should be kept in mind that once the Financials get audited the company needs to file the revised FLA Return on the basis of Audited Accounts on the RBI Portal.

Mandatory Registration on RBI Portal:- 

Being an online filing, the Company needs to get themselves register first on the RBI Portal for filing the FLA Return. (First Time User)

Once you open the portal you will find the drafts of Authority Letter and Verification Letter at the bottom of the page. You need to download it and get it printed and signed by the authorized person and upload it on the portal to get the registration successful. This process is for the Companies registering it for the First time.

Afterwards you can simply login through the Username and Password set by the Company. Once you enter the login details it will ask for the OTP and which will be sent to the registered Mobile number. Enter the OTP and you will be successfully logged in.

How to Start Filing the FLA Return?

Once you login, the Homepage will be displayed and on the Left hand side you will find an option “FLA ONLINE FORM”. Click on FLA Online Form and then you will find an option “START FILING FLA FORM”. Click on the Start Filing FLA Form the Form will be displayed and you are ready to enter the details as applicable to your Company.

Division of FLA Return:-

The FLA Return is divided into 5 Section (i.e. Section I to Section V). The details of the Section are explained below:-

SECTION I:  IDENTIFICATION PARTICULARS

This Section basically includes the identification details of the Company. Some of the details required in this Section are Name of the Company, PAN, CIN, Name of Contact Person, Email Id, Mobile No, Nature of Business, Company Listed or Not etc.

SECTION II:  FINANCIAL DETAILS

This Section requires details of the Financials of the Company. For this section we must have our financials ready, to enter the correct and exact data as on the end of the FY. The details required in this section are Total Paid-up Capital of Indian Company, Profit & Loss, Reserve & Surplus, Sales and Purchase made during the FY etc.

SECTION III:  FOREIGN LIABILITIES

This Section requires details of the Investment Made in India (i.e. FDI). Some of the details are Investment in India under Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) scheme (10% or more Equity Participation), Investment in India under Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) scheme (Less than 10% Equity Holding), Portfolio Investment in India etc.

SECTION IV:  FOREIGN ASSETS

This Section requires details of the Overseas Direct Investment (i.e. ODI). Some of the details are Overseas Direct Investment (10% or more Equity holding), Direct Investment Abroad (Less than 10% Equity holding), Portfolio Investment Abroad etc.

SECTION V:  VARIATION REPORT

This Section is basically an Auto filled Section. It means we do not need to enter any data in this Section. It will automatically reconcile data from the rest four sections filled earlier as applicable to the company.

And being the last Section we need to click on the “Submit Return” Option for final submission of the FLA Return for such particular FY. Acknowledgement will be received on your Email Id for successful submission of the Return.

Note:-  We can only open the Next Section when the earlier section are filled properly. Else we can not directly jump to the other Section. Kindly save the data before moving it to the other Section.

FLA Helpdesk:-

For any query related to the FLA Return you can either contact through phone or through an email. The Email on which the query will be answered is surveyfla@rbi.org.in. The contact details for the FLA Helpline are 022-26578214 /359 /348.

 You can also go through some RBI FAQ’s by clicking on the following link for better clarification of this topic https://m.rbi.org.in/Scripts/FAQView.aspx?Id=95.

Conclusion:-

Author has tried her level best to cover the possible relevant aspect related to the FLA Filing. The minute details has also been discussed for better understanding of this topic. This article has been drafted keeping in mind every possible professionals (New or Fresher or Experienced etc.) or Trainee or Intern etc. whosoever required clarity on this topic. Hope you find this article helpful & related.

In case of any suggestion or improvement please feel free to contact. This will boost our Morale and will help in sharing our knowledge. The author can be reached through Email which is available on the cover page.

Email:- megha.agrawal151992@gmail.com

DISCLAIMER:- 

This article is based on the best of my knowledge and moreover in no event author shall be liable for any direct or indirect result from this article. This will only be treated as a knowledge sharing initiative provided solely for information. This article does not guarantee a professional advice or recommendation.