Last date of filing form 49C by Liasion office of Non resident is May 30, 2015.

Furnishing of annual statement to tax department in relation to Liaison Offices of non-residents

The Central Board of Direct Taxes has prescribed Form 49C to be submitted by a non-resident having an liaison office (LO) in India. The annual statement in Form 49C is to be submitted in electronic form within 60days from the end of financial year ending on 31 March, 2012.

One may note that,

• The annual statement seeks to collect extensive details about activities of the non-resident from India or their operation in India.
• The non-residents would be required to obtain and file a large volume of information relating to their operations from or in India.
• The non-residents would be required to document the role played by their LO in the overall operations since the tax authorities may use the information from the annual statement to ascertain the taxability of the non-residents in India. 

Form 49C is primarily required to be filed by Non-residents having Liaison office(s) in India. It is to be filed in pursuance of Section 285 of the Income Tax Act and in accordance with rule 114DA of the Income Tax Rules.

Section 285 of Income Tax Act, 1961 read with rule 114DA mandates that Every person, being a non-resident having a liaison office in India set up in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999), shall, in respect of its activities in a financial year, prepare and deliver or cause to be delivered to the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction, within sixty days from the end of such financial year, a statement in form 49C of its activities.

However, as per RBI Master Circular No. 7/2012-13, dated 2-7-2012, the AAC is required to be filed within six months from the due date of the Balance Sheet. Therefore to that extent, there seems to be inconsistency between the due date of filing of Form No. 49C and AAC, which needs to be resolved

Reserve Bank of India requires filing of an Annual Activity Certificate (AAC) annually after getting the same duly certified by a Chartered Accountant.

AAC is required to be filed prior to filing of Form 49C as the date of filing AAC is required to be mentioned in Form 49C.

The annual statement in Form 49C shall be furnished by  a Chartered Accountant in electronic form along with digital signature .

In order to file Form 49C one needs to do the following:

1. Visit www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in

2. Login to the respective ID.

3. Go-to “e-file” and then click on “Prepare and Submit online Form (other than ITR)”.

4. Then on the page that appears, you need to select the Form, which in this case would be 49C, then select the relevant Assessment Year and then select the Digital Signature Certificate of the person who would be verifying Form 49C.

5. Then you will enter a page wherein you will have instructions w.r.t. Form 49C, followed by Form 49C itself, followed by “Attachments” page. Thus, fill-in and you are ready to go

Kindly note that attachments, if any, attached to Form 49C should not exceed 50MB in total and should either be in pdf or zip format.

Extract of Rule 114DA of Income Tax Rules

[Furnishing of Annual Statement by a non-resident having Liaison Office in India.

114DA. (1) The annual statement as provided under section 285 for every financial year, shall be furnished in Form No. 49C.

(2) The annual statement referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be duly verified by the Chartered Accountant or the person authorised in this behalf by the non-resident person, who shall be known as the Authorised Signatory.

(3) The annual statement referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be furnished in electronic form along with digital signature.

(4) The Director General of Income-tax (Systems) shall specify the procedure for filing of annual statement referred to in sub-rule (1) and shall also be responsible for formulating and implementing appropriate security, archival and retrieval policies in relation to statements so furnished.]

Extract of Section 285 of Income Tax Act, 1961

[Submission of statement by a non-resident having liaison office.

285. Every person, being a non-resident having a liaison office in India set up in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999), shall, in respect of its activities in a financial year, prepare and deliver or cause to be delivered to the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction, within sixty days from the end of such financial year, a statement in such form and containing such particulars as may be prescribed.