• What is ?
• FLA(Foreign Liabilities and Assets) Return under FEMA (Foreign Exchange and Management Act, 1999) is Annual Return  required to be submitted by all:
  • India resident companies,
  • Partnership firms,
  • SEBI registered Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs),
  • Public-Private Partnerships (PPP),
  • Branches or Trustees
• which have received FDI/or made overseas investment in any of the previous year (s) including the current year.

• Legal Provision:

As per RBI/2010-11/427 A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 45 dated March 15, 2011, an Indian company which has received FDI and/or made overseas investment in any of the previous year(s), including the current year, shall submit form FLA Return to the Reserve Bank on or before the 15^th day of July of each year.

Companies not subjected to file FLA Annual return

• An Indian company without having any outstanding investment in respect of inward and outward FDI. In such cases, the companies do not need to submit the FLA Return
• If a company has received only share application money. Alongside this, if the company does not have any FDI or ODI outstanding as on end-March of the reporting year. In this case, the company does not require to fill up the FLA return.
• The organizations who have issued shares depending on a non- repatriable basis to the NRIs only

Precisely, Foreign Liabilities and Assets Annual Return filing is a must until you are not involved in foreign investment

• Due Date :

FLA is required to be submitted by July 15 every year. In case FLA filed on the basis of provisional accounts. In case there is variation in provisional and audited financials, a revised FLA is to be filed based on audited accounts before September end

• New Procedure from 2019

Earlier, entities filed the annual return on Foreign Liabilities and Assets (FLA) in the soft form (excel file)which can be duly filled-in, validated, and sent by email to the Reserve Bank of July 15 of every year.

New :

The present email-based reporting system for submission of the FLA return will be replaced by the web-based system online reporting portal https://flair.rbi,org.in by RBI/2018-19/226 A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 37 dated June 28, 2019, and would be applicable for reporting of information for the period 2018-19 to enhance the security-level in data submission and further improve the data quality.

Steps: Registration at RBI Online Portal  

Step 1: Click on Registration form for New Entity User at https://flair.rbi.org.in

Step 2: Fill all the details in the FLA User registration Form

Step 3: There are three parts of the FLA User Registration Form:

• Entity details
• Authorized Person’s Details
• Attachments

Step 4: Attach Verification letter and Authority letter from Entity in pdf as per the format given in user manual

Step 5: Click on submit button after filling all the details and a message “Record Saved Successfully” pops up

Step 6: Enter the User name and Password as provided to the authorized person in the email (provided in FLA user registration form) and click log in. The user would be asked to change his/ her password upon the first-time login.

FLA online Submission

Step 1 : FLA Online form

Step 2 : Logging on to FLA online form

Step 3 : Enter your user name, new password and valid Captcha

Step 4: Enter OTP code ( the user will received the OTP on registered email ID for log in)

Step 5 : Enter in FLA Online form : on successful log in , the home page of RBI Online FLA (dashboard) is displayed

Step 6: On top left menu > Click FLA Online Form > Start Filing Form

Step 7: After filing all section , check once and proceed for submission

• Portal to file FLA Return:

 FLAIR (https://flair.rbi.org.in/fla/faces/pages/login.xhtml)

The existing mechanism of email based submission of FLA forms will be discontinued.

(FLAIR System: Foreign Liabilities and Assets Information Reporting System)

• CONSEQUENCES OF NON-FILING

Non-filing of the return before due date will be treated as a violation of FEMA and penalty clause may be invoked for violation of FEMA.

• COMPOUNDING PROVISIONS

Any person who contravenes any provision of the FEMA, 1999 [except section 3(a)] or contravenes any rule, regulation, notification, direction or order issued in exercise of the powers under this Act or contravenes any condition subject to which an authorization is issued by the Reserve Bank, can apply for compounding to the Reserve Bank

All views expressed on this site are my own and do not represent the opinions of any entity whatsoever with which I have been, am now, and will be affiliated.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

For more Queries/Concern/Clarification Mail us at info@Corpindcart.com