Annual Return on Foreign Liabilities and Assets (FLA) is required to be filed by Indian resident entities having foreign assets or liabilities arising from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and/or Overseas Direct Investment (ODI). This requirement applies to companies, LLPs, AIFs, partnership firms, PPPs, and other entities with such exposures as on end-March of the reporting year. The return is filed annually through the RBI’s FLAIR portal. Non-filing within the prescribed timeline is treated as a violation under FEMA and may attract penalty provisions.

Entities having outstanding FDI and/or ODI as on end-March of the reporting year or previous year are mandatorily required to file the FLA return with the Reserve Bank of India.

The due date for submission of the FLA return is July 15 of the reporting year, based on audited or unaudited financial statements.

Entities may file the return using provisional/unaudited financials within the due date and are required to submit a revised return after audit, with prior approval from RBI.

FLA return is required to be filed through the web-based Foreign Liabilities and Assets Information Reporting (FLAIR) portal of RBI after registration and authentication of the entity.

Non-filing or delayed filing of the FLA return is treated as a contravention under FEMA, and penalty provisions, including late submission fees, may be applicable.

Entities without any outstanding FDI or ODI as on end-March of both the current and previous year are not required to file the FLA return.