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Lokpal Declaration Date will be extended

In a recent development, on Thursday, one of the Rajya Sabha Member, Ms Anu Aga,  raised the issue regarding declaration of Assets by the officers and trustees of NGOs.

“One temporary solution could be to extend the date for a few months from July 31. However, this is a short term respite and we will have to find a permanent solution by amending the act,” she suggested. ”

In response, I&B Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said: “We shall keep in mind the sentiments of the House in this regard and see that a broad consensus is evolved on the issue and then move forward. The date will be extended but it depends on the responses of all the political parties.”

Read full news article here.

 

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NGOs under Lokpal

Another compliance requirement to be fulfilled by NGO and NPOs. This time, its Lokpal and Lokayukt Act (LLA, 2013). Yes NGOs are under the scanner of Lokpal now. Recently notified by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions nos 1541, 1542 and 1543 (dated 20.06.2016) specify the procedure and clarity regarding Lokpal.

(See Full Notification here)

Let us discuss this in FAQs.

Which NGOs/NPOs are covered?

As per notification three types of trust / society and associations (NGOs) are covered.

  1. NGOs owned by government
  2. NGOs, which has received grant or Rs. 1 crore and above from Government
  3. NGOs, which has received FC funds of Rs. 10 lacs and above

What type of compliance?

“Public Servant” of above NGOs has to submit return declaring the Assets and Liabilities, as per sec44 of LLA, 2013.

Who is “Public Servant”?

Definition of “Public Servant” is not clearly given in the LLA, 2013. However all the Board Members are certainly covered.

Who is liable?

“Public Servant” in individual capacity is liable. Thus NGO per se is not liable, but all the trustees / board members are liable to comply with the provisions of LLA, 2013.

How to declare Assets and Liabilities?

There are 4 forms specify –

  1. Form I: Name of spouse, dependent children, public position held by them,
  2. Form II: Details of movable property such as cash, bank balances, investments, provident fund, loans and advances, vehicles, jewellery, gold, etc.
  3. Form III: Details of immovable property such as land, house, shops etc.
  4. Form IV: Details of loans taken, along with details

Download forms in excel from below link –

[dg ids=”3943″]

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Whose Assets and Liabilities?

  1. Self
  2. Spouse
  3. Dependent Children

Whom to Submit?

 

  • NGOs owned by government – Respective Department
  • NGOs, which has received grant or Rs. 1 crore and above from Government – Department from which highest grant received 
  • NGOs, which has received FC funds of Rs. 10 lacs and above – FCRA Department, Home Ministry.

 

How to send declaration?

For now, only by registered post.

For How many years and what is the last date?

As per act, till the grant is not utilized, every year such return should be submitted. So, currently, return for 2015-16 is to be submitted before 31.07.2016.

There after for every year, last date is 31st July.

Any person become public servant in between the year, has to file return within 30 days form the date he is appointed.

Penalty?

If declaration is not submitted or the assets are not declared, it is presumed that all the assets are acquired through corrupt means and also it will be treated as offense and Lokpal can initiate the inquiry against the “Public Servant”.

Video Tutorial

Any other question?

Kindly put your comments and question in the below comment section.

 

 

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Check – NGO has filled Quarterly Return or not

As all of you aware that now, every NGO having FCRA registration needs to either file quarterly return online at the FCRA website or upload it to their own website. Check out our blog on this.

FCRA department has just made it public the list of NGOs who have filled quarterly return for the period Oct-Dec and Jan-March for the year 2015-16.

Follow these steps to check whether your NGO has filled Quarterly Return or not.

Step 1 – visit https://fcraonline.nic.in

Step 2 – Click on “Information Bank” in the Menu

Step 3 – Click on last tab as mentioned below in screenshot

Image 2

Step 4 – Select the year and Quarter and a list will be displayed as mentioned below.

Image 3

 

So, on this list you can check which NGO has filled return. It is advisable use Find Button by pressing “Ctrl F”. Also search NGO by registration instead of name to get accurate result.

 

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FCRA Registration Renewed to All

Good News :

All the NGOs FCRA, which expired on or before 30.09.2016 are extended to 31.10.2016. See the notification here.

What does it means :

It means all the organization’s FCRA registration is expired on 31.10.2016. As per FCRA 2010, registration of organization was going to be expired on 30.04.2016. But now it is automatically extended to 31.10.2016 by way of above notification.

Also, those organization, who has not apply for renewal, immediately apply in Form FC3.

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Latest Updates FCRA – Quarterly Return

Latest Update

Recently FCRA department has updated website and integrated quarterly return tab. Now every NGO has to file a intimation of quarterly receipts of FCRA. Currently Quater – October 2015 to December 2015 is open. So fill this form and submit to FCRA. See the screenshot below.

FCRA_Quarterly

Steps to be followed :

Step 1 – Click on the link shown in the above image.

Step 2 – Login with you user id and password

Step 3 – After login,, first screen is your NGO info page. Click on the last link stating quarterly intimation.

Step 4 – Read all the instruction carefully.

Step 5 – Quarterly Intimation Tab – Select the quarter and entered the total fcra amount received during the quarter. Click Next.

Step 6 – Donorwise Detail Tab – Enter the donor details as per the below screenshot.

Image 2

Step 7 – Final Submit – Check all the details again and then, Final Submit.

Deadline :

As such in FCRA amendments rule quarterly details should be updated within 15 days of quarter end. However for this quarter Oct to Dec 2015, update all the information as early as possible.

Video :

 

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Have you Upload FCRA Financials to your NGO Website?

One of the major changes notified in the Amendments Rules 2015 is that now every NGO has to upload FCRA Financials to their websites within 9 months of year end. So the time limit is 31st December to upload FCRA financials to your NGO Website. In the same clause another amendment is to upload quarterly  FCRA receipts within 15 days of the quarter end. Let us discuss this in detail.

A. Upload FCRA Financials (Annually)

Q1 : What should be upload?

A1 :  Receipts and Payments Account (FC Funds), Income and Expenditure Accounts (FC Funds), Balance Sheet (FC Funds) and all the annexures.

Q2 : Is it Audited Statements?

A2 : Yes, all statements must be audited by chartered accountant.

Q3 : What is recommended format?

A3 : No format is recommended by FCRA department. It is preferable to have in PDF format.

Q4 : Where it should be upload?

A4 : NGO’s official website.

Q5 : What is the deadline?

A5 : After 9 months of Financial Year ends. i.e. 31st December.

Q6 : From which year  it should be upload?

A6 : Upload Financial Statements of 2014-15 immediately.

B. Upload Details of FC receipts  (Quarterly)

Q1 : What should be upload?

A1 :  Details of Donors, Amount Received and Date of Receipt.

Q2 : Is it Audited ?

A2 : No, only details to be uploaded.

Q3 : What is recommended format?

A3 : No format is recommended by FCRA department. It is preferable to have in PDF format.

Q4 : Where it should be upload?

A4 : As per the rule 13(b) of amendments 2015, It should be upload to NGO’s official website or website specified by the Central Government. (However no such website is specified by the Government yet, so preferable is to upload to NGO’s website right now)

Q5 : What is the deadline?

A5 : 15 Days after the end of the quarter.

  • Quarter
  • April to June
  • July to September
  • October to December
  • January to March
  • Deadline
  • 15th July
  • 15th October
  • 15th January
  • 15th April

Q6 : From which Quarter  it should be upload?

A6 : As per my opinion, NGO has to upload for three quarters of FY 2015-16  ending on 30 Jun, 30 Sept and 31 Dec  immediately.

C.What if NGO do not have website

If the NGOs do not have website, then it should get one. As the cost of creating and maintaining website is bit higher, I recommended to use below free tools / website :

https://wordpress.com/

https://www.blogger.com

Also watch my video on how to create free website of NGO on wordpress.com.

Kindly put your queries /questions / suggestions in the below comment box.

 

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FCRA Annual Return Form FC4 Date Extended

fcra form fc4

FCRA department has extended due date of Filling FC4 form – Annual Return from 31st December 2015 to 15th March 2016 for the financial year 2014-15.

As recently, FCRA Amendments Rules 2015 has been notified, all forms are changed and online filling is now mandatory. In the light of this changes, FCRA department has extended the FCRA annual return form FC4 filling date vide circular dated 22/12/2015,

  • OLD DATE
  • 31.12.2015
  • NEW DATE
  • 15.03.2016
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FCRA New Rules 2015

From 14th December 2015, FCRA new rules comes into force. Ministry of Home Affairs, FCRA department has issued this notification. The first and major impact of such notification is to file FCRA renewal form again. Read this blog for more details.

Here we are trying to understand the changes in Rule,2015 through some graphical presentations.

1. First Change is Change in Forms

FCRA_New_Rules_1_2015

Forms nomenclature and details has been change in New Rules 2015. Kindly go to this link and click on “Sample Forms”. You can download all the forms from there for your reference. However, filling of forms in paper format or offline mode is not allowed.

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FCRA Dos and Don’ts

FCRA Dos and Don’ts

As a crucial Act, an organization should take utmost care regarding FCRA. However, many myths prevails regarding what should be “Dos” and “Donts” regarding FCRA. Ministry of Home Affairs have clearly issued advisory in regard to this. You can download PDF from here. We try to make it simple and in Graphical Format. Lets Start with “Donts”

1. Do Not Mix Foreign Contribution with Domestic Receipts

Dont's1

Our Interpretation*

  1. Bank accounts must be separate (obviously)
  2. Do not Transfer funds from FC Bank to NonFC (even Direct Bank Transfer)
  3. Books of Accounts must be separate.
  4. Keep Separate Cash Box (it shows good cash control system)
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