On 7th March 2019, the FCRA department had issued a Notification. Vide this Notification various changes are made in the FCRA rules mainly concerning the application and reporting under FCRA.
1. Changes in Annual Return – Additional Details Sought:
In the annual return following additional details are sought in addition to existing details: (Text in italics and underline are earlier provisions)
1. Details of Other Receipts such as: Name and Address of Project Activity, Year of Commencement, Income during the year. (These other receipts can be e.g. sale of assets, income from activities etc.). Earlier only amount was required.
2. Activity/Project wise details of FC received are required in addition to Purpose wise and donor wise details. Earlier these were purpose wise and donor wise only.
3. Utilisation details to be provided Project Wise / Activity wise. Earlier this was required in totality.
4. Details of Purchase of fixed assets required such as Purpose, Amount, Immovable & movable assets. Earlier only total value for purchase of fixed assets was required.
5. Details of FC Transferred to Other organizations with their name, Date, Purpose, amount. Earlier these details were not separately required and were part of total utilisation only.
6. Details of Unutilised foreign contribution in Fixed Deposits with details such as - Opening Balance of FDs, Additions to FDs, withdrawal from FDs and Closing balance of FDs. Earlier these details were not required.
7. Details of Foreigners Associated / working / key persons. Earlier details for only Salaried and those working in honorary capacity were required.
8. Details of Land and Building remained unutilised for more than 2 years, with details such as: Location of Land and Building, Year of Acquisition, Purpose of Acquisition, Reason for Un-utilisation. These details were not required earlier.
9. Details of FC Designated Account and Utilisation account along with date of opening account. Earlier date of opening of account was not required.
2. Changes in Forms
The forms have gone following changes:
To ensure easy availability of annual return details, necessary alterations should be made at accounting entry level.