Suyog S Kabra
Q.1 Which Companies Are Eligible Are Eligible To File FLA Return?
A: The Annual return of foreign liabilities and assets ( FLA) is required to be submitted by all the Indian Companies which have received FDI and /or made FDI abroad in the previous year (S) including the current year i.e. who holds foreign assets or liabilities in their Balance sheets.
Q.2 What Are the Due Date of Submission of The FLA Return?
A: FLA return is mandatory under FEMA 1999 and companies are required to submit the same based on audited/ unaudited account by July 15 every year.
Q.3 What Information Should Be Reported In FLA Return, If Balance Sheet Of The Company Is Not Audited Before The Due Date Of Submission?
A: If the company’s accounts are not audited before the due date of submission i.e. July 15, then the FLA return should be submitted based on unaudited account. Once the accounts get audited and there are revisions from the provisional information submitted by the company, they are supposed to submit the revised FLA return based on audited accounts by end of September.
Q.4 If a company did not receive FDI or made overseas investment in any of the previous year (s) including the current year, do we need to submit the FLA return?
A: If the Indian company does not have any out standing investment in respect of Inward or outward FDI as on end March of reporting year, the company need not submit the FLA return.
Q.5 If Company has only share application money, and then is that company supposes to submit FLA return?
A: If a company has received only share application money and does not have any foreign direct investment or overseas direct investment outstanding as of end-March of the reporting year, then that company is not required to fill up FLA return.
Q.6 If the company has not received any inward FDI / made overseas investment in the latest year, do they need to submit the FLA Return?
A: If the company has not ‘received any fresh FDI and/or ODI (overseas direct investment)’ in the latest year but the company has outstanding FDI and/or ODI, then that company is required to submit the FLA Return every year by July 15.
Q.7 Whether FLA Return is required to be submitted by Registered Partnership Firms (Registered under Partnership Registration Act) or branches or trustees, who have made Overseas Direct Investment or it is mandatory only for Companies (Registered under Companies Act, 1956)?
A: If the Partnership firms, Branches or Trustees have any outward FDI outstanding as of end-March of the reporting year, then they are required to send a request mail to get a dummy CIN number which will enable them to file the Excel based FLA Return. If any entity has already got the dummy CIN number from the previous survey, they should use the same CIN number in the current survey also.
It is also informed that these dummy CIN numbers are provided by RBI for filling the excel based FLA return only and not for any other purpose.
Q8. Is it required to submit Annual Performance Report for ODI, if we have submitted FLA Return?
A: FLA Return and Annual Performance Report (APR) for ODI are two different returns and monitored by two different departments of RBI. So you are required to submit both the returns if these are applicable for your company.
Q.9 If non-resident shareholders of a company has transferred their shares to the residents during the reporting period, then whether that company is required to submit the FLA Return?
A: If all non-resident shareholders of a company has transferred their shares to the residents during the reporting period and the company does not have any outstanding investment in respect of inward and outward FDI as on end-March of reporting year, then the company need not submit the FLA Return.
Q.10 If Company issued the shares to Nonresident on non repatriable basis, whether that company is required to submit FLA return?
A: Shares issued by reporting company to non-resident on Non-Repatriable basis should not be considered as foreign investment; therefore, companies which have issued the shares to non-resident only on Non-Repatriable basis, is not required to submit the FLA Return.
(Suyog S Kabra is partner with White Collar Legal LLP and can be reached at [email protected])
I have a query
1. If at the time of allotment of shares the person is resident who is a promoter director of the company and later on went abroad now, since fifteen years he is in abroad only, doing there job. So whether it required to file FLA.
2. In case of a) promoter director b) an individual : who were Non Resident in India, whom shares allotted fifteen to twenty years ago and still they are non resident, whether it required to file FLA.
Please reply
Nisha Jain
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