Owing to “disturbances in internet services”, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has extended the deadline for businesses in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to e-file financial statements (AOC-4, AOC-4 (CFS), AOC-4 XBRL) and annual return (MGT-7) for FY19 to January 31, 2020. The Ministry took this decision after it received requests from “various stakeholders” who requested an extension given that “normal work was affected” due to the internet shutdown in the region, which has been in place for more than a 100 days now. Companies will not be charged any additional fee if they file the documents within this deadline. The Ministry announced this in General Circular No. 15/2019 (available below) on November 28, which is signed by MCA’s Assistant Director (policy) K.M.S. Narayanan. This is the second extension provided to businesses in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh for filing their tax returns for the last financial year. In General Circular No. 13/2019, dated October 29, MCA had extended the deadline to submit AOC-4 e-forms until November 30, and MGT-7 e-forms until December 12. In this general circular, the Ministry only said that the extension was granted due to “various factors”. Ironically, on November 27, Minister of State in the Home Ministry, G. Kishan Reddy informed the Rajya Sabha that the abrogation of Article 370, and the subsequent reorganisation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories as per the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, has had “no additional financial implication as such” for the…
