All you want to know about FCRA Charter for Chartered Accountants

By Taxscan Team - On February 10, 2021 2:55 pm

The Central Government has released the Charter for Chartered Accountants under Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010

Since the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 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 must 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 in various ways.

Key Takeaways:

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.

The FCRA, 2010, states that a CA should certify if an association or an NGO has utilised foreign contribution received for the purposes it was registered for and the annual statements are to be uploaded on the FCRA portal. Registered NGOs can receive foreign contribution for five purposes — social, educational, religious, economic and cultural. An FCRA registration is mandatory for NGOs to receive foreign funds.

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