Receiving commission

No, a CA cannot receive such amount. Yes, there is a prohibition from receiving the amounts from a non-member.

As per clause 3, Part I of the First schedule of the chartered accountants act,1949 “A CA in practice shall be guilty of misconduct if accepts or agrees to accept any part of the professional work of a person who is not a member of the Institute”

However, such restriction does not apply in respect of following persons:

• member of any other professional bodies (ICSI, ICWAI, Bar Council of India, Indian Institute of Architects, Institute of Actuaries of India), or
• with such other persons having prescribed qualifications (CS, CWA, Actuary, B.E., Bachelor in Technology, Bachelor in Architecture, Bachelor in Law; MBA).

In your case if the software developer is having the prescribed qualification from above bodies then CA can receive commission from him, however you need to see that the prescribed qualification is from a recognized affiliation also.