Charter for Chartered Accountants under Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) 2010

Charter for Chartered Accountants under FCRA 2010 

Since the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA, 2010) is national security legislation; associations are required to exercise extreme care and caution in dealing with foreign contribution from the time of its receipt to its final utilization. As the Chartered Accountants audit the accounts of the associations and certify the accounts before submission to the Government, they are required to provide proper guidance to the associations who are either applying for grant of prior permission/registration or who have been granted prior permission/registration under FCRA, 2010. The Chartered Accountants are requested to get themselves thoroughly familiarised with FCRA, 2010 and the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011 (FCRR, 2011), amendments and notifications issued from time to time so that they can help the associations:

• To verify whether the associations are eligible to receive foreign contribution.

• To guide the applicant organization in submission of application for registration/prior permission;

• To ensure that the association receives and utilises the foreign contributions through its bank account exclusively opened for the purpose in accordance with the provisions of FCRA, 2010 and FCRR, 2011 and that foreign contribution is not deposited or utilised from the bank account being used for domestic funds.

• To assist in the proper maintenance of prescribed books of accounts in accordance with the provisions of FCRA, 2010 and FCRR, 2011;

• To ensure that the annual returns of an association have been prepared in accordance with the provisions of FC(R) Act, 2010 and FCRR, 2011 as amended from time to time.

Note: Statutory Form FC-4 for Annual Returns stipulates that CA shall certify that the association has utilised Foreign Contribution received for the purposes(s) it is registered/granted prior permission by the Government.

• Order u/s 69 of the CGST Act has to be communicated before arrest of person concerned– SC
• Refund can not be denied on the ground that it was claimed in a return filed u/s 148 – ITAT
• Distinction between religious & charitable purposes is determined by institution’s primary or dominant object
• Fit case to issue notice u/s 148 – Relevancy of material & application of mind to objections important
• AO is under an obligation to assign reasons for rejecting explanation of the assessee