Ministry of Corporate Affairs provides Lists of Forms Eligible for Fee Waiver

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) provided a list of forms granting extra time and waiver of the additional fee. The decision of the MCA for a waiver of additional fees on a set of compliance obligations provides relief to businesses during the pandemic.

The MCA has provided a list of ten forms that are eligible for the additional fee waiver. Out of the ten forms, eight compliance requirement forms due between 1 April 2021 and 31 May 2021 have been provided extra filing time till 31 July 2021 without being charged any additional fees. 

The other two forms are about reporting modification or creating a charge on the assets of the business. For these two forms, an exclusion of time is given from 1 April 2021 till 31 May 2021 for calculating the time allowed under the law. The MCA announced the waiver of the additional fee earlier this month, but the list and details of the compliance obligations eligible for relief were issued recently. 

These compliance requirements refer to specific compulsory disclosure and statutory filings of various company developments to the Registrar of Companies (RoC). They include forms filed to the RoC for change in registered office, auditor appointment,  annual return filing of a foreign company,  return filing of dormant companies, return filing of Nidhi company for the half-year ended and conversion of a public company into a private company or vice-versa.

The waiver of additional fee relief is also applicable to the statement filed on shares and unpaid or unclaimed dividends not transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund. The MCA stated that the businesses could refer to the list of forms issued by the MCA and plan accordingly. The list of the ten forms eligible for the waiver of the additional fees are as follows:

• Form CHG-1 – Application for registration of creation, modification of charge (other than those related to debentures)
• Form CHG-9 – Application for registration of modification or creation of charge for debentures or rectification of particulars filed in respect of modification or creation of charge for debentures
• FORM ADT-1 – Information to the Registrar by a company for appointment of auditor
• FORM INC-22 – Notice of situation or change of the situation of Registered Office of the company
• FORM NDH-3 – Return of Nidhi company for the half-year ended
• FORM FC-4 – Annual Return of a foreign company
• FORM MSC-3 – Return of dormant companies
• FORM INC-27 – Conversion of public company into a private company or private company into a public company
• FORM NDH-2 – Application for extension of time
• FORM-IEPF-3 – Statement of shares and unclaimed or unpaid dividend not transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund

The MCA provided the relief of waiver of additional fee for filing the above forms after receiving several requests to waive the fee for late filing of the statutory forms. The relief provided by the MCA will help businesses facing a lockdown situation in many parts of the country and a shortage of workforce.

Many small businesses and startups have been asking for a relaxation of different compliance requirements that they are finding challenging to comply with due to the pandemic situation in India. The government also gave relief on specific filing requirements related to Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Income Tax. It also exempted customs duty and agriculture cess on different medical supplies used to treat and prevent coronavirus disease.

The announcement of MCA and issuance of the list of forms for which there is a waiver of additional fees for late filing will help the businesses in the present pandemic situation. The MCA has given relief to the businesses to fulfil their compliance requirements by providing extra time to file the forms without paying additional/late fees.

For any clarifications/feedback on the topic, please contact the writer at mayashree.acharya@cleartax.in