Extending deadline not enough, MCA portal needs fixing, say experts

Despite the MCA extending its filing deadline to December 31, professionals say persistent glitches on the new version 3 portal continue to stall compliance work

Professionals, such as company secretaries and chartered accountants, have raised several technical issues with the new version 3 portal, which has delayed annual filings.

 

Even though the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has extended the deadline for filing forms till December 31, professional service providers feel it is not enough and does not address the issues at hand.

 

“For the time being, extension is given after professionals have gone and requested for it, but what about all the working hours we have wasted in these filings. Filing is just the information side of compliance, not compliance itself. Responsibility and accountability should be set by the government for these delays,” said company secretary Vanita Agarwal. 

 

The MCA — in a notification dated October 17 — had said, “In view of the deployment of the new e-Forms, and considering that companies may require some time to get familiarised with the filing process, and keeping in view the requests received from various stakeholders, it has been decided that companies will be allowed to complete their annual filings pertaining to FY25 till December, 31, 2025, without payment of additional fees.” 

 

Technical snags flagged by professionals range from inability to change password, update profile, save data in E-forms to low size of attachments allowed on the portal and requirement of prior approvals for filling of certain forms.

 

“Extension is fine for immediate relief but the issues need to be resolved for the long term.  If a thing which can be done in 15 minutes takes an hour, then it is concerning,” said Ankit Singhi, head of corporate affairs and compliance, Corporate Professionals.

 

The latest version of MCA portal with final 38 new e-Forms was launched on January 14.

 

In version 2, forms were required to be filled and uploaded in the portal while in Version 3, the forms are supposed to be filled online. This was done to enable user convenience, including the ability to save a half-filled form and file it later.

 

Professionals have raised concerns about functionality of these features as well.

 

The new version also includes a personalised “My Application” feature, which allows one to view all the forms filed by him till date. He can also see the status of forms, such as pending for DSC upload, under processing, pay fees and resubmission, among others.