CHANGES IN FORM 15CB & 15CA – w.e.f 1st April 2016

CA Rajan Raichura

Furnishing of Information in Respect of Payments made to the Non-Resident

Section 195 of the Income-tax Act empowers the Central Board of Direct Taxes to capture information in respect of payments made to non-residents, whether chargeable to tax or not. Rule 37 BB of the Income-tax Rules has been amended vide Notification No. G.S.R. 978(E) dated 16th December, 2015 to strike a balance between reducing the burden of compliance and collection of information under section 195 of the Act.

The significant changes under the amended Rules are:  

No Form 15CA and 15CB will be required to be furnished by an individual for remittance which do not requiring RBI approval under its Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS)

Further the list of payments of specified nature mentioned in Rule 37 BB which do not require submission of Forms 15CA and 15CB has been expanded including payments for imports. Following are the five new exempt payment types:-

1. Advance payment against imports
2. Payment towards imports-settlement of invoice
3. Imports by diplomatic missions
4. Intermediary trade

A CA certificate in Form No. 15CB will be required to be furnished only in respect of such payments made to non-residents which are chargeable to tax and the amount of payment during the year exceeds Rs. 5 lakh.

Prescribed form No. 15CC for Quarterly statement to be furnished by an authorised dealer in respect of foreign remittances made by him.

Form No. 15CA has been classified into 4 parts – Part A, Part B, Part C and Part D.

Applicability of Form 15CB and respective part of Form 15CA is explained in below flowchart

Process related to Form 15CB & CA has been completely revamped by the IT Department and now IT Department expecting the certifying CA to certify the Form 15CB via online, similar to an Audit Report.

The Online Process related to Form 15CB & CA explained in nutshell;

Online Process related to Form 15CB:

1. The Remitter / Company has to ‘Add CA’ in e-filing Portal, whoever is signing the Form 15CB
2. The ‘Form 15CB’ xml file has to be generated with the help of a ‘Utility’, Signing manual / paper form is discontinued
3. So added CA shall upload the Form 15CB xml file with one’s own e-Filing Login
4. The Remitter / Company has to approve the same
5. Once approved, the Remitter will allotted with an ‘Acknowledgement Number’, which has to be Keyed-in when prompted, while filing ‘Form 15CA’

Online Process related to Form 15CA:

1. The Remitter / Company has to Login to Company’s ‘e-filing’ portal
2. Using ‘DSC Management Utility’ the Remitter / Company need to create a ‘Signature xml file’ to upload it while filing Form 15CA
3. Under ‘e-file’ tab, select ‘Prepare and submit online Forms (Other than ITR)’ and select 15CA
4. Follow the instructions and steps as seen onscreen to file the Form 15CA online

(Author CA Rajan Raichura (prop of R. Raichura & Associates) – is chartered accountant practicing at Mumbai and Rajkot, can be reached at ca.rraichura@gmail.com or on +91 86528 01212 for any queries)