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The Ministry of Corporate Affairs vide its notification dated 22nd January, 2019 has brought in amendments in the Companies (Acceptance of Deposit) Rules, 2014. The said Rules now mandate every company to file e-form DPT-3 irrespective of whether it has accepted deposits or not.

Applicability
Form DPT-3 filing must be made by all companies other than a Government company. Hence, all private limited company, OPC, limited company or Section 8 Company would be required to file Form DPT-3.

Due Dates
One Time: Companies would be required to file Form DPT-3 one-time on or before the 22nd of April 2019. In the return, the company must provide details of outstanding receipt of money or loan by a company but not considered as deposits from 1st April 2014 up to 22nd January 2019.

Annual: Post the one time compliance, Companies would be required to file Form DPT-3 on or before the 30th day of June, of every year and furnish the information contained therein as on the 31st day of March of that year duly audited by the auditor of the company.

The intention behind this filing requirement could be that MCA wishes to scrutinize at personal level all the transactions of company and self-assess whether the same tantamount to deposits.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), on the 22nd of January 2019, notified a requirement for companies that have dues outstanding to MSME enterprises to file the particulars of all current outstanding dues to the concerned Micro and Small Enterprises in Form MSME 1. The filing of such returns comprises of two parts, namely initial returns (MSME-1) and half-yearly return (MSME-2).

Applicability
This compliance is applicable to all companies getting goods or services from micro and small enterprises. Specifically, it is meant for those companies whose payments to the latter haven’t been made for more than forty-five days from the date of acceptance of the goods or services. As per the notification, these companies are required to furnish a half-yearly return to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs stating the particulars of the outstanding amount and the reasons for delay in payment to MSME enterprises.

Procedure
All the companies, to whom this compliance is applicable, are required to identify whether their suppliers are registered under the MSME Act. If they have been, and if payments to them are due for more than 45 days from the date of acceptance of the goods or services, the company would either be required to close the pending dues or file returns of the particulars of the liability, along with the reason for its delay in MSME Form 1. The particulars of liability should include:

• The total outstanding amount due on the date the form is deployed
• Name of the supplier.
• PAN of the supplier.
• Date on which the liability starts.

Due Dates:
One time: The due date for filing Form MSME 1 shall be within a period of thirty days from the date the form is deployed on the MCA 21 portal. The Form has not been deployed yet.

Annual: Post the one time filing, the MSME Forms shall be required to be filed twice a year as under:
For the period April – September – Due date 31st October
For the period October – March – Due Date 30th April

In order to identify active companies and to verify their registered office, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has on 21st February 2019 issued Companies (Incorporation) Amendment Rules, 2019 whereby every company, including a company having license under section 8 of the Indian Companies Act 2013 or under section 25 of the erstwhile Indian Companies Act 1956 and incorporated on or before the 31st December, 2017 is now required to file important details of the company and its registered office in e-form ACTIVE (INC – 22A) on or before 25th April 2019.

Active Company Tagging Identities and Verification is a new concept introduced by MCA vide Companies (Incorporation) Amendment Rules, 2019 which is applicable from 25th February 2019.

Requirements for Filing Form INC 22A:

• Name of the Company
• Full Registered Office address of the Company
• External Photo of the Registered Office, preferably showing the Name Plate
• Internal Photo of the Registered Office showing at-least one director signing the Form
• Latitude of the address on Map
• Longitude of the address on Map
• Email ID of the Company, which will be verified through an OTP.
• Names of Directors and their DIN
• Details of all Statutory Auditor, Cost Auditor, Company Secretary [Name of the Individual/Firm, PAN, Membership No, Firm Registration Number, Period for which appointed]
• Challan of Form AOC 4 and MGT 7 filed for FY 2017-18

Consequence of non filing of e-form INC–22A:

If a company does not file Form 22A or ACTIVE before 25.04.2019, then the company would be marked as ACTIVE non-compliant. Once a company is marked as ACTIVE non-compliant, it would not be able to file or affect any of the following changes:

• Changes in authorized capital (Form SH-07)
• Changes in paid-up capital (Form PAS-03)
• Changes in Director (Form DIR-12). Cessation would be allowed.
• Changes in Registered Office (Form INC-22)
• Amalgamation or Merger (INC-28)

Fees: There is no government fees if it is filed within due date. The e-Form has to be digitally signed by a Chartered Accountant/ Cost Accountant or a Company Secretary in whole-time practice.

Penalty: Penalty for filing after the due date is Rs. 10,000.

Due Date: The due date is 25th April 2019. Kindly complete the fee payment and furnish the details on or before 15th March 2019, for timely submission.

Ineligibility:
Following Companies will not be allowed by Ministry of Corporate Affairs to file this e-form ACTIVE:

• Companies which have not filed its due Financial Statements in Form AOC-4
• Companies which have not filled its Annual Returns in Form MGT-7
• A company who’s any of the director/s has not filled DIR 3 KYC form or is disqualified under section 164 of the Companies Act, 2013.

Hence, it is essential that the Companies have filed its Annual Returns till FY 2017- 2018 and the status of all its directors is ‘Active’ on MCA Portal by filing Form DIR KYC.

Exemptions: If a company is struck off or under the process of striking-off or liquidation, the Form ACTIVE need not be filed.