Do I file FC-GPR & FC-TRS even if no tax is owed?
Information return obligations of this kind are generally required on the facts rather than on the tax result, so a nil position does not remove one. Indian companies issuing shares to foreign investors, and parties to share transfers across residency lines.
What happens if I have missed FC-GPR & FC-TRS for several years?
Missed years are dealt with as a package rather than one at a time, because the route chosen for the first year affects the relief available for the rest. We map the years and the obligations before anything is filed.
Is FC-GPR & FC-TRS the same as the other reports I already file?
No. The reporting of foreign investment into an Indian company — share issues and transfers between residents and non-residents. Satisfying a different obligation, even one covering the same accounts or entity, does nothing for this one.
We issued shares to a foreign investor in our Indian company, what must we report?
An issue of shares by an Indian company to a non-resident investor is reported on FC-GPR. It is exchange-control reporting rather than a tax return, and the clock runs from the transaction itself, not from your year end, so it is a deadline the closing timetable has to carry. Two things decide whether it goes smoothly: having the valuation that supports the price at which the shares were issued, and having the company's own records, including the allotment, consistent with what is reported. Assemble both while the round is closing rather than afterwards.
What is the difference between FC-GPR and FC-TRS?
FC-GPR reports an Indian company issuing shares to a foreign investor, so new shares come into existence and money comes into the company. FC-TRS reports a transfer of existing shares between a resident and a non-resident, where the shares change hands and the money passes between the parties rather than into the company. A single funding round can involve both, for instance where an investor subscribes for new shares and also buys some from a founder. Each has its own reporting, and both are driven by the same underlying valuation.
We missed the reporting deadline on a share issue, can it still be fixed?
Late reporting is dealt with through compounding rather than by ignoring it, so the position can be regularised, but not without consequence and not by simply filing quietly now. Do the work in order: establish the actual transaction date, gather the valuation and the board and shareholder records that go with it, identify every other filing in the same period that may be in the same state, and then take the whole picture forward at once. Companies usually find that one missed filing sits alongside others from the same busy period, and dealing with them together is better than discovering them one at a time in diligence.
Does a share sale from a resident founder to an NRI need reporting?
A transfer of shares in an Indian company across residency lines is reported on FC-TRS, and a founder selling to a non-resident buyer is squarely within that. People miss it because a secondary sale feels like a private matter between two shareholders rather than an investment into the company, and because no money reaches the company at all. The reporting obligation does not depend on that. Treat the transfer as having its own reporting timetable running from the transaction, and settle who is doing the filing before completion rather than after.
Do FC-GPR and FC-TRS need the same valuation?
The two filings share the same valuation, which is precisely why a tax adviser has to hold these deadlines rather than leaving them to the company secretarial side alone. Where a round involves both new shares and a transfer of existing ones, a single valuation supports both filings, and the tax position on the transfer is measured against that same figure. If the valuation is prepared twice by different people for different purposes, the filings can end up describing the same shares at different values, which is difficult to explain later and easy to avoid at the time.
Who is responsible for filing FC-TRS, the buyer or the seller?
Do not leave it to be worked out afterwards. The obligation attaches to the parties to the transfer, so in practice the answer should be settled in the transfer documents and named there, together with who is providing the valuation and who is holding the timetable. A transfer where each side assumed the other was reporting is the commonest way a deadline is missed, and it is usually discovered much later by somebody doing diligence. Agree it in writing before completion, and confirm after filing that the reporting was in fact made.
Is dividend income from Indian shares taxable for an NRI?
Yes. Dividends are taxed in the shareholder's hands, and the paying company withholds on payment to a non-resident. The treaty can reduce that withholding, but only if the documents are with the company before it pays: a tax residency certificate from your country, Form 10F, and a PAN on the register. Without them the domestic rate applies and your route back to the difference is a refund claim on an Indian return. See residency certificates and Form 10F.
What is a DTAA?
Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement — India's name for a tax treaty. It does the same work as any treaty: allocates taxing rights between India and the other country, caps Indian withholding on payments abroad, and sets out whether relief comes by exemption or by credit. To use one you generally need a tax residency certificate from the other country, Form 10F, and a PAN in the deductor's records. See DTAA relief between India and Canada.
