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Filing of itr - liaison office in india

SHAHAD (CA Final) (75 Points)

23 August 2012

Dear All,

Is it mandatory to file ITR for Liaison office, if so whether we need to file nil return (since statement expenditure only applicable to liaison office). also please let me know whether we need to account depreciation on fixed asset in statement of expenditure? please advise?

Regards

Shahad

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2 Replies

Kiran (CA) (44 Points)
Replied 25 August 2012

Hi,

With reference to you query, find my inputs below:

As per section 139 every person shall file a Returns of Income (RoI).

Person as per section 2(31) includes company and as per section 2(17) company includes foreign company having presence in India. However, Liaison office ('LO') does not have a presence in India (refer the country DTAA which your company is in existence normally Liaison offices are not considered to have presence in India.

So the answer to your question is NO need to file RoI. However, there are certain other compliances which I have briefed below check whether you have complied this:

A LO is required to file an Annual Activity Certificate ('AAC') with the Reserve Bank of India. The filing of the AAC is consequent to the financial year end adopted by the LO.

Annual Information Statement in Form 49C - As per Section 285 of the Indian Income Tax Act, 1961 ('the Act'), introduced with effect from June 2011, a LO is required to file an Annual Information Statement in Form 49C with the India tax authorities within 60 days of the end of the financial year.

It is pertinent to note that in Form 49C the LO has to mention date of submission of AAC.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (India) has issued an instruction in connection with the subject. As per the instruction, the due date for filing of Form 49C (Annual Information Statement) by the Liaison Office has been extended till 30 September 2012 instead of 30 May 2012 proposed earlier. This is due to the fact that the electronic filing of Form 49C has not been made operational till date. Additionally, as per the instruction, the filing of Form 49C for tax year 2011-12 is now required to be done in physical form (ie paper mode) instead of electronic filing.

Trust this suffices. Should you have any queries feel free to write to me.