Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2017 for annual return filing

Companies Amendment bill 2017 was passed in Lok Sabha on 27th July, 2017�and is awaited to be passed in Rajya Sabha. The proposed bill will become the Companies (Amendment) Act 2017 once it will obtain the assent Rajya Sabha and president of India. The amendment bill aims at promoting ease of doing business in India and making some necessary changes in the Companies Act 2013. Through this article we look into the impact of Companies amendment bill 2017 on Non Filing of Annual Return and Financial Statement.

Filing of Annual Return(Section 92)

Within 60 days from the date on which the annual general meeting is held or should have been held every company shall file with the Registrar a copy of the annual return. The annual return shall be accompanied with the statement specifying the reasons for not holding the annual general meeting, and such fees or additional fees as may be prescribed, within the time as specified, under section 403. Every officer who is responsible for the default shall be held liable to pay the fine.

Filing of Financial statements (Section 137)

Every company is required to file its Financial Statement along the consolidated financial statement and necessary documents with the Ministry within 30 days of its Annual General Meeting and if the same is not filed within 30 days it shall be considered as default from the 31st�day itself. Every officer who is in default shall be liable for the fine.

Fee for filing (Section 403)

As per the provisions of section 403 of Companies Act, 2013 if company fails to file Annual form within additional period of� 270 days then company have to file application with NCLT for compounding of offence u/s 137 and 92.

The amendment bill 2017 proposes to remove the reference of Section 403 from the section 137 and 92 under Companies Amendment Bill, 2017.It means once the bill becomes Act, no additional time of 270 days shall be available for filing�the annual returns and statements. Further the company can file the returns only by paying an additional fees of rupees 100/? per day and different amounts may be prescribed for different classes of companies. In addition to this, the company would be liable for penal action. Moreover, if a company defaults on filing the annual return or financial statements for two or more times, the penalty levied would be doubled.

Due to the decrease in the time limit provided and increase in the amount of penalty Body corporates and professionals are recommended to file annual form within the specified time with registrar of corporates.�

Author: Dushyant Sharma

Hey there, I'm Dushyant Sharma. With the extensive knowledge I've gained in past 8 years, I have been creating content on various subjects such as banking, insurance, telecom, and all the important registration and licensing processes for various companies. I'm here to help everyone with my expertise in these areas through my articles.