The government has extended the deadline for uploading photos of business premises to June 15, giving corporates more time to comply with a provision aimed at spotting shell companies.

“It has been decided to extend the date to June 15,” confirmed a corporate affairs ministry official. 

The disclosure norms, which came into effect from February, make it mandatory for registered companies to upload pictures of their business premises and at least one director. The last date for compliance was Thursday, April 25. ET had reported on Wednesday that the MCA was looking to extend the deadline.

The move came after the ministry received representations from industry associations with many companies yet to comply. 

Startups have, in particular, pointed out that many of them operate out of homes or shared premises or office suites. 

The government had launched a crackdown on shell companies as part of the anti-black money drive and these norms were follow-up measures to establish existence of registered entities. Names of thousands of shell companies were struck off as part of this drive. 

The new norm requires companies to upload a photograph of the external facade of their registered office with a board displaying the company name, corporate identity number, address of the entity, email and phone number. The entity also has to upload a photo of the office interior showing at least one director who will also sign the form. 

This new electronic form INC 22A, which is also known as e-Form ACTIVE (Active Company Tagging Identities and Verification), was notified as part of the Companies (Incorporation) Amendment Rules, 2019 in February. If the form is filed within the due date, there is no fee, while late filing will attract a fine of Rs 10,000. 

A non-compliant company would not be able to amend its capital structure or carry out any merger or amalgamation. 

Source-The Economic Times