The annual return on Foreign Liabilities and Assets (FLA) is required to be submitted directly by all the Indian companies which have received FDI (foreign direct investment) and/or made FDI abroad (i.e. overseas investment) in the previous year(s) including the current year i.e. who holds foreign Assets or Liabilities in their Balance Sheets.
Annual return on Foreign Liabilities and Assets has been notified under FEMA 1999 and it is required to be submitted by all the India resident companies which have received FDI and/ or made overseas investment in any of the previous year(s), including current year by July 15 every year. 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.
If the company’s accounts are not audited before the due date of submission, i.e. July 15, then the FLA Return should be submitted based on unaudited (provisional) account. Once the accounts gets audited and there are revisions from the provisional information submitted by the company, they are supposed to submit the revised FLA return based on audited accounts by end - September.
FLA Return are to be submitted through FLAIR portal of RBI, i.e., (https://flair.rbi.org.in/fla/faces/pages/login.xhtml). The Entities which are filing FLA return for the first time/ with revised UIN (Unique identification number) are required to register themselves first for generating login credentials and afterwards they can file FLA return. However, the entities which have already registered earlier may submit FLA-2021 using their earlier login credentials.
Revisions in the FLA return are allowed. The reporting entity need to take approval from RBI in case of revision of duly submitted current year FLA return. Visit https://flair.rbi.org.in/fla → Login to FLAIR → Click on MENU tab on the left-hand side of the homepage → ONLINE FLA FORM → FLA ONLINE FORM→ "Please click here to get the approval to fill revised FLA form for current year after due date/previous year” → select "Year" and click on → Click “Request”. The request status will be visible in the table below available on the screen. After sending request to RBI through FLA portal, entities need to wait for at least one working day for approval. Entities can check the status of their request in “Multiple Year Enable Screen” under menu on the left corner. Once approved by RBI, the entity can revise FLA return for current year.
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