Govt launches amnesty scheme for late filings by LLPs

The government on Wednesday launched an amnesty scheme for condonation of delays in filings of documents by limited liability partnership (LLPs) firms.

The move is meant to make life easier for businesses who have been facing problems due to non-filing of returns.

Accordingly, it has been decided to give a one-time relaxation in additional fee to the defaulting LLPs to make good their default by filing pending documents and to serve as a compliant LLP in future.

The scheme - 'LLP Settlement Scheme, 2020', will come into force on March 16 and shall remain in operation till June 13. During the period, there would be one-time condonation of delay in filing statutorily required documents with the Registrar.

Also, to reduce the burden on LLPs, they would be required to pay only Rs 10 as additional fee for each day delay in filing documents as against the earlier practice of Rs 100 for each day of delay. The penalty on delayed filing will also be capped to a maximum of Rs 5,000 providing relief to LLPs, some of whom have not filed their documents for years.

LLPs are unique corporate structure that allows the flexibility of a partnership firm and advantages of limited liability of a company at a low compliance cost. Around 1.5 lakh LLPs are registered in India and about 1.3 lakh are active firms.

LLPs have been facing the issue of filing of documents, largely related to form 3 that includes papers related to initial agreement for setting up an LLP. The delays in this regard has been over 10 years in some cases.

The other documents that LLPs are required to file are forms 8 and 11 that concerns financial statements.

A government statement said that due to applicability of additional fee on late filing, which in case of inordinate delay could actually become a financial burden, a large number of Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) have remained non-compliant, mainly on account of their inability to pay late fees for the cumulative period of delay.

LLPs, that wish to avail themselves of the scheme, may file the pending documents/forms and make good the defaults, to gain immunity from prosecutions for such defaults. IANS