Due date for filing of FLA Return for FY 2019-20 extended!

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) through an announcement on the Foreign Liabilities and Assets Information Reporting (FLAIR) system website has extended the due date of filing of Foreign Liabilities and Assets (FLA) Return for FY 2019-20 to 14th August, 2020, on account of technical difficulties.

The FLA Return needs to be submitted by all Indian companies which have received Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) or made any FDI abroad (overseas investment) in the previous year(s) including the current year i.e. who holds Foreign Assets or Liabilities in their Balance Sheets. The due of filing the FLA Return for FY 2019-20 was 15th July, 2020 which now stands extended to 14th August, 2020.

The penalty under FEMA for not filing of return within due date are very high which is as under:

“Non-filing of the return before due date will be treated as a violation of FEMA and penalty will be levied on defaulters which shall be three (3) times the sum involved in contravention or Rs. 2,00,000 and if the contravention is continuing every day, Rs. 5,000 for every day for defaulting period.”

Since the penalty under FEMA is very high people have requested RBI to extend it’s due date and few e-mail have been circulated in the name of FLA team wherein it has been said that “We are aware of the inconvenience caused by you while filing the return…… The due date for submission of FLA for the year 2019-20 is being extended. The same would be displayed on the FLAIR home page once the site becomes operational.”