FLA Return Filing
One annual return to the RBI, due 15 July, owed by every entity that has ever received foreign investment — including in years when nothing happened.
The Foreign Liabilities and Assets return is an annual return filed with the RBI by 15 July each year by any Indian company, LLP or other entity that has received foreign direct investment or made overseas direct investment in any previous year, including years in which there was no fresh transaction. It is filed on the RBI's FLAIR portal based on the entity's audited accounts, and where accounts are not yet audited, unaudited figures can be filed by the deadline and revised later.
What our FLA return service covers
Applicability, registration, filing and revision.
- Assessing whether the entity is liable to file at all
- Registration of the entity and authorised person on the FLAIR portal
- Preparing the return from audited or provisional financial statements
- Reporting foreign liabilities and foreign assets at the correct valuation
- Filing by 15 July and revising once accounts are audited
- Regularising earlier years where the return was never filed
What the return reports
A statistical return with real consequences for getting it wrong.
Foreign liabilities
Foreign direct investment received, including equity and other capital held by non-residents in the reporting entity.
Foreign assets
Overseas direct investment made by the entity, and other assets held outside India.
Two reference dates
Positions and transactions reported for both the previous and the latest financial year, with opening and closing figures.
Revision
The facility to file on provisional numbers by the deadline and revise once audited figures are available.
Our process
A short annual process with a fixed date.
Applicability check
Confirming whether foreign investment or overseas investment exists on the books at any point.
FLAIR registration
Registering the entity and its authorised person, which has to be done before the first filing.
Preparation
Extracting the required figures from the financial statements at the correct valuation basis.
Filing and revision
Submitting by 15 July, then revising with audited figures if provisional numbers were used.
Why the FLA return gets missed
What sets our approach apart.
It survives the transaction
Entities file FC-GPR once and assume reporting is complete; the FLA return continues every year for as long as the investment stays on the books.
July is early
The 15 July deadline usually falls before the audit is complete, so entities wait for audited numbers and miss the date entirely.
Non-filing is a contravention
Failure to file is a contravention under FEMA and is dealt with through compounding, which is more expensive and slower than filing on provisional numbers.
FLA Return Filing questions answered
What people ask before engaging us.
Never filed an FLA return?
We will check your applicability for each past year and tell you how to regularise it.
