ICSI seeks more time to file annual returns

India has a total of 19.25 lakh companies registered with the RoC as on August 2019 and of this 11.86 lakh are active companies.

Company secretaries (CS) association ICSI has urged the government for more time to file financial statements and annual returns of companies on account of filing of IT returns and audit reports as well as holidays in the last week of October, which also happens to be the last week for filing such documentation.

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) wrote to the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) stating that it has received various communications from companies and professionals requesting for extension of last date for filing annual forms, a government official said.

The reason cited for the extension is that festival holidays for Diwali, Bhai Dooj etc are falling during the last week of October, which also happens to be the last date of filing, the official added.

Another reason is that the last date of filing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) along with audit reports for corporates and tax audit for other assesses has been extended by the CBDT up to October 31, 2019 and thereby various fillings are culminating on the same date, the official said.

The issue relates to provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, wherein corporates are required to file financial statements (form AOC-4 and AOC-4 XBRL) and annual returns (Form MGT-7) with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) within 30 days and 60 days, respectively from the date of their annual general meeting (AGM).

In a letter to MCA secretary, Injeti Srinivas, ICSI’s officiating secretary, Ashok Kumar Dixit requested for more time for filing financial statements and annual returns and urged the government not to levy any additional fee.

India has a total of 19.25 lakh companies registered with the RoC as on August 2019 and of this 11.86 lakh are active companies. Out of the active companies, around 11.79 lakh are limited by shares, 7,103 are limited by guarantee and 312 are unlimited companies. Out of the companies limited by shares, 64,110 are public, while 11.15 lakh are private including 25,503 one person companies.