Non-resident having liaison office required to submit statement in prescribed form to the Assessing Officer [Section 285] :

(i) A non-resident can operate in India through a branch or a liaison office set up after getting the approval of the Reserve Bank of India. Since the branch constitutes a permanent establishment of the non-resident, it has to file its return of income. However, there is no such requirement as regards a liaison office since no business activity is allowed to be carried out in India via a liaison office of a non-resident.

(ii) With effect from 1.6.2011, such a non-resident would be required to file a statement in the prescribed form to the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction, within 60 days from the end of the financial year, providing the details in respect of activities carried out by the liaison office in India during the financial year.

(iii) This requirement has to be complied with by every person, being a non-resident having a liaison office in India set up in accordance with the guidelines issued by the RBI under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.

(iv) Since the provision has been made effective from 01.06.2011, the requirement to file such statements would arise for financial year 2011-12 and thereafter and the statement of a particular financial year should be filed on or before 30th May, of the succeeding financial year. For example, the statement for F.Y. 2015-16 should be filed on or before 30th May, 2016.

(v) Notification of form and particulars of Annual Statement to be furnished by a non-resident having Liaison Office in India [Notification No. 5/2012 dated 6-2-2012]

(a) For the purpose of this section, the CBDT has, vide this notification, prescribed the form and particulars of the Annual Statement to be furnished by the non-resident having Liaison Office in India. The statement shall be given in Form 49C and shall be submitted in the electronic form along with the digital signature.

(b) The statement is to be verified by a Chartered Accountant or by the Authorized Signatory i.e., the person authorized by the non-resident in this behalf.

(c) The procedure for filing such Annual Statement shall be specified by the Director General of Income-tax (Systems). He shall also ensure that appropriate policies for security, archival and retrieval in relation to such statements furnished, are formulated and implemented.