MCA vide General Circular No. 11/2020 dated 24th March 2020, it has been decided to reduce their compliance burden and other risks.
Reliefs given were as follows:
- No additional fees shall be charged for late filing during a moratorium period from 01st April to 30th September 2020, in respect of any document, return, statement, etc., required to be filed in the MCA-21 Registry, irrespective of its due date.
- The mandatory requirement of Board meetings of the companies within the intervals provided in the Companies Act, 2013 (120 days) stands extended by a period of 60 days till the next two quarters i.e., till 30th September. Accordingly, as a one-time relaxation, the gap between two consecutive meetings of the Board may extend to 180 days till the next two quarters, instead of 120 days as required.
- The Companies (Auditor's Report) Order, 2020 shall be made applicable from the financial year 2020-2021 instead of being applicable from the financial year 2019-2020 notified earlier. This will significantly ease the burden on companies & their auditors for the financial year 2019-20. A separate notification has been issued for this purpose.
- For the financial year 2019-20, if the Independent Director(ID) of a company has not been able to hold such a meeting, the same shall not be viewed as a violation. The IDs, however, may share their views amongst themselves through telephone or e-mail or any other mode of communication, if they deem it to be necessary.
- The requirement under the Companies Act, 2013 to create the deposit repayment reserve of 20% of deposits maturing during the financial year 2020-21 before 30th April 2020 shall be allowed to be complied with till 30th June 2020.
- The requirement under the Companies (Share Capital & Debentures) Rules, 2014 to invest or deposit at least 15% of the number of debentures maturing in specified methods of investments or deposits before 30th April 2020, maybe complied with till 30th June 2020.
- Newly incorporated companies are required to file a declaration for Commencement of Business within 180 days of incorporation under the Companies Act, 2013. An additional period of 180 more days is allowed for this compliance.
Non-compliance of minimum residency in India for a period of at least 182 days by at least one director of every company, under the Companies Act, 2013 shall not be treated as a non-compliance for the financial year 2019-20.
https://companylaw.taxmann.com/circulars-notifications.aspx?t=qs