Background: In a bid to clamp down fly-by-night businesses and shell companies, The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) routinely introduces different provisions for improving compliance and enhancing the transparency of companies. In the past few months the MCA has introduced various e-forms related to company formation and annual compliance rules. The most recent amendment by MCA was the introduction of the rule 25A under companies rule. Under this comes form INC-22A. In his previous article Ravi Kariya explained the company registration process of a Private Limited Company in India. In this article he explains all about e-Form INC-22A which is to be filed on or before 25 April, 2019.

The new e-Form INC-22A recently rolled out by Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is ACTIVE (INC-22A) and is part of the ACTIVE (Active Company Tagging Identities and Verification) exercise.

1. Applicability

• Every company incorporated on or before 31 December, 2017 shall file the particulars of the company and its registered office, in e-Form INC-22A known as e-Form ‘ACTIVE’ (Active Company Tagging Identities and Verification) on or before 25 April, 2019.
  
  

2. Eligible companies under the INC-22A (active) form

• Companies incorporated on or before 31 December, 2017

• Status of Director Identification Number(DIN) of directors must be ‘approved’ at the time of filing

• Financial Statements and Annual Returns should be duly filed for the FY 2017-18
  
  

3. Ineligible companies under the INC-22A (active) Form

• Companies under liquidation

• Struck off companies

• Companies under the process of striking off

• Amalgamated or dissolved companies
  
  

4. Consequences of non-filing of INC-22A Form

• Non-filing of INC-22A (ACTIVE) Form on or after 26 April, 2019 will mark the company as “Active-non-compliant.”

• Penalty of INR 10,000 is payable on or after 26 April, 2019 to get the company marked as “ACTIVE Compliant.”

• On non-filing of INC-22A (ACTIVE) Form, the government may not accept certain forms including SH-07, PAS-03, DIR-12, INC-22, INC-28.
  
  

5. Simple steps to file INC-22A (ACTIVE) Form with MCA:  

• Step 1: Basic details of the form including company name, registered address, and registered email id.

• Step 2: Number of directors along with the name and status of DIN.

• Step 3: Details of the statutory auditors.

• Step 4: Cost auditor appointment requirement and details.

• Step 5: Details of the managing director or the chief executive officer or whole time manager along with DIN/PAN, name and designation.

• Step 6: Details of the company secretary of the company in case it is applicable along with PAN name and membership number.

• Step 7: Details of the chief financial officer of the company in case it is applicable.

• Step 8: Details of other forms including AOC-4-AOC-4 XBRL and MGT-7 filed for the FY 2017-18.

6. Declaration and verification 

After including all the above-given details one has to attach the photographs of the company premises in the prescribed format.

7. Signing of form 

In case of One Person Company (OPC), signing of form needs to be done by one director, in case of other than OPC, by one director and one Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) or two directors who are certified by the one practicing professional.

FAQ’s on e-Form INC-22A 

1. What is the due date for filing the Form INC-22A?

Every company is required to file form INC-22A (ACTIVE) on or before 25April, 2019.

2. Which company is required to file the Form INC-22A ACTIVE?

Every company incorporated on or before 31  December, 2017 

3. What are the statutory fees for filing of Form INC-22A?

There are no statutory fees for filing of Form INC-22A, if filed on or before 25  April, 2019.

4. What is the amount of late filing fees a company needs to file if form not filed within 25 April?

Company is required to pay a fee of INR 10,000 for filing Form INC-22A.

5. What are the documents required to be attached in the Form INC-22A?

Photograph of the inside office showing therein at least one director/KMP and the same director will affix its Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) on the form and photograph of the external building of registered office showing company name, registered address and GST Number on the board in local as well as English language.

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