eForm FC-4 Filing Services
The annual return that sits alongside FC-3 — shorter, but due sooner, within 60 days of the financial year end.
Form FC-4 is the annual return of a foreign company under Section 384(2) of the Companies Act, 2013, filed with the Registrar of Companies, Delhi within 60 days of the close of the financial year. It reports the company's particulars, its directors and secretary, its shareholding and members, its principal business activities and its places of business in India, and it is a separate filing from FC-3, which carries the accounts.
What our FC-4 service covers
Data collection from the parent, prepared into the return.
- Company particulars, registered office abroad and principal place of business in India
- Details of directors and secretary, including changes during the year
- Shareholding pattern and details of members and debenture holders
- Principal business activities and turnover of the Indian operations
- Details of places of business opened or closed during the year
- Filing with the ROC Delhi within the 60-day window
What the annual return reports
Four blocks of information, sourced from the parent.
Company particulars
Identity, registered office abroad, jurisdiction of incorporation and the Indian principal place of business.
Directors and secretary
Particulars of those in office and of any changes during the year, with the dates of change.
Members and shareholding
Details of shareholders and debenture holders of the foreign company as at the year end.
Indian operations
Principal business activities, turnover and the places of business opened or closed in India.
Our process
A tight window, so the data collection starts early.
Data request
Collecting director, member and shareholding data from the parent well before the year end.
Preparation
Compiling the return, reconciling Indian operation details against the books.
Review
Checking consistency with the FC-3 filing and with the prior year's return.
Filing
Filing FC-4 with the ROC Delhi within 60 days of the close of the financial year.
Why FC-4 causes more trouble than FC-3
What sets our approach apart.
Sixty days is short
The return is due before most parent companies have closed their own books, so the data has to be gathered rather than extracted from finalised accounts.
The data sits abroad
Shareholding and director particulars come from the parent's secretarial records, which usually means a time-zone and a translation problem.
Defaults attract penalties
Contravention of the foreign company provisions attracts penalties on the company and on every officer in default, over and above the additional filing fees.
eForm FC-4 Filing Services questions answered
What people ask before engaging us.
FC-4 due in the next two months?
We will send the parent a single data request covering everything the return needs.
