No marks for extra questioned attempted in CA examinations

It is seen that in CA examinations, sometimes, candidates answer more questions or sub parts of a question, than are required in terms of the instructions given in the question paper.

In this connection, it is hereby informed that candidates are required to answer the requisite number of questions as per instructions printed on each question paper. In case any candidate answers extra questions/sub questions over and above the required number, then the requisite number of questions first answered in the answer book shall be valued and subsequent questions answered extra will be ignored.

Candidates are requested to take note of the above.
Examination Department

Role and functions of the Quality Review Board established u/s 28A of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949

Government of India has, in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 28A of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, constituted a Quality Review Board (the 'Board') to perform the following functions u/s 28B of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949:-
a)      to make recommendations to the Council with regard to the quality of services provided by the members of the Institute;
b)     to review the quality of services provided by the members of the Institute including audit services; and
c)      to guide the members of the Institute to improve the quality of services and adherence to the various statutory and other regulatory requirements.

2.         Government of India has also issued 'Chartered Accountants (Procedures of Meetings of Quality Review Board, and Terms and Conditions of Service and Allowances of the Chairperson and Members of the Board) Rules, 2006'. In terms of its Rule 6, in the discharge of its functions, the Board may, inter alia, evaluate and review the quality of work and services provided by the members of the Institute in such manner as it may decide and also lay down the procedure of evaluation criteria to evaluate various services being provided by the members of the Institute and to select, in s

New Role of CA in THE REAL ESTATE (REGULATION AND DEVELOPMENT) ACT, 2016

From the below mentioned para a Role of Chartered Accountant may be determine under Real Estate Act, 2016 published in official gazette on 26-03-2016.

​

"(D) that seventy per cent. of the amounts realised for the real estate project the allottees, from time to time, shall be deposited in a separate account to be maintained in a scheduled bank to cover the cost of construction and the land cost and shall be used only for that purpose:

Provided that the promoter shall withdraw the amounts from the separate account, to cover the cost of the project, in proportion to the percentage of completion of the project:

Provided further that the amounts from the separate account shall be withdrawn by the promoter after it is certified by an engineer, an architect and a chartered accountant in practice that the withdrawal is in proportion to the percentage of completion of the project:

Provided also that the promoter shall get his accounts audited within six months after the end of every financial year by a chartered accountant in practice, and shall produce a statement of accounts duly certified and signed by such​ chartered accountant and it shall be verified during the audit that the amounts collected for a particular project have been utilised for the project and the withdrawal has been in compliance with the proportion to the percentage of completion of the project. 

How does the CA course affects your environment positively

We have all been through the rigours of pursuing CA and we know how tough it is to handle various situations which need us to push our limits beyond our capabilities.

We can put forward several such examples to prove it like studying late night hours(burning the midnight oil),being dedicated to our task and putting all our efforts all throughout to clear the exams in the very next attempt,not getting time to have fun with friends and having a monotonous approach in life to achieve one goal to become a CA one day, sacrificing the best phase of our life and missing out on several family functions and festivals etc. The list is endless.

But, with all these we also start to develop certain traits over a period of time which always helps us when we are up against the odds which are not in our favour. Such traits can be determination to succeed, having a strong willpower to achieve the impossible, toiling hard to turn the tides in our favour, being passionate in life to achieve something etc. Even this list would be endless.

How to prepare at your optimum for CA exams

“Chartered Accountancy”, the first thought that comes to the mind is,it is very tough to clear the exams and this becomes evident by a look at the previous pass percentage results and what we get to hear from the people surrounding us. So, it is wise not to pursue for such a qualification as the odds of success are marginal.

The same was the case with me as well, but I took the decision to be a part of the elite profession and so set afoot in the journey of becoming a professional in life, despite knowing the chances of getting through and when many were not in favour of my decision, mainly because I had a Science background in my intermediate and the course itself being so tough.

It has been a good progress so far and I have managed to sail through the exams each time with flying colours. But, all of this has had come with a cost attached to it and sacrifices made in the past, that, I know would never return in my life ever.

So, I thought of writing this piece to share my story of“How I managed to clear the CA exams”, i.e. CPT and IPCC with decent marks and what did I implement in my approach for the same.

How to have a proper preparation for CA Exams??

Complaint lodged against arrogant Service Tax Officer in Akurdi, Pune

Practise or Service? Ultimate speech for Chartered Accountants by a Chartered Accountant

The below is the speech of past president of Institute of Chartered Accountant of India, Late Shri P Brahmaya, which was delivered to the members of South India Regional Council at Madras on 25.02.1976.
The speech was regarding considerations to be made while deciding which path to take, Practise or Job? by a newly qualified Chartered Accountant. The contents of the speech are still relevant today!!

Problem of new entrants-Practice or Service:
A person who qualifies, as a Chartered accountant has to take a
decision, a difficult one at that, whether he would be best suited for
practice or employment. The factors that weigh in his decision
making include aptitude, financial stability etc.
We are reproducing here the speech of our revered past President
of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Late Shri. P.
Brahmaya, a doyen among members of our profession delivered
to the members of the Southern India Regional Council at Madras
on 25th February 1976. The newly qualified Chartered Accountants
will be immensely benefited in their decision making whether to
enter practice or to take employment.

CA Final Nov 2014 Results and News

Important Announcements made by CA K. Raghu, President ICAI at National Convention for CA Students held at Mumbai

CA Final Result date- 19 Jan
IPCC result Date- Feb 1st week

 ISCA paper to be dropped from CA final syllabus and council is planning to add subjects related to IFRS and Transfer Pricing.

Official confirmation regarding above mentioned announcements is awaited.

Important points for Multi Purpose Empanelment Form filing

Points which shall be carefully read and be taken care for Multipurpose Empanelment Form (MEF) for the year 2014-15

1 All the members in full time practice are advised to fill the MEF Form and shall submit full details in the MEF as this panel will also be available for the assignments other than the bank branch audit.
2 Last date for submission of applications on the website www.meficai.org is 4thAugust, 2014. Members are advised to fill MEF well in advance to avoid last minute rush.
3 Please use Internet Explorer 6.0/ Mozilla Firefox 7.0 or later versions to fill MEF 2014-15.
4 The information filled in by the applicant in MEF can be edited/modified any number of times before final online submission.
5 All correspondence, acknowledgement, discrepancy letters, etc. will preferably be through e-mail only. Please fill up e-mail id correctly and ensure that it is active.
6 It is must to provide correct contact details i.e. telephone number, e-mail-id also to keep track of these as and when allotment procedure starts.
7 (a) Unique Code Number (UCN) is very important as it facilitates compiling the applicants' bank audit experience. Therefore, an applicant must ensure that correct UCN appears in the MEF.
(b) If the applicant has never been allotted UCN at any point of time, we would like to inform that UCN will be allotted to all eligible applicants at the time of preparation of the Bank Branch Auditor's Panel.

Industry or Practise ??

WHETHER TO GO FOR PRACTICE OR INDUSTRY

Every one of us will become CA today or tomorrow and after becoming CA the question which popup in our mind is "Whether to go for Practice or Industry?" 

This article will help you to provide answer to the above question.

If we think about the demand aspect there is more demand of CAs in practice then in industry and most of us are well aware of this fact but don’t want to go for practice why? As per my opinion below are the reasons:

1.       Not having good networking

2.       Not having enough money

3.       Not having good knowledge or communication skill

4.       Not having enough confidence or fear of failure

5.       Don’t know how to go in practice or what are the compliances we need to obey

6.       Getting very good job somewhere else in industry

7.       Joining family business

8.       Whether to start proprietorship or partnership

If we talk about the favorable aspects of going into practice then it could be below:

1.       You, yourself is the boss

2.       You can freely make decisions to improve your Business / Profession

3.       All the return from the Business / Profession belongs to you

4.       In long term your business will grow up thus it will provide you very good returns then provided by an Industry

5.       You can spare the time for your family and friends

6.       There are little number of CA who is in practice so you will always be in demand

7.       You can train the article trainee's (No dummy pls)

8.       Finally no tension of applying for leave etc

Even after having lot of benefits being into practice members are not willing to go for it because members are not properly motivated by ICAI. We generally see big statements from ICAI that go in practice but never got the answers to the points mentioned above in first para.

Really speaking if CA institute can do something to help us on above points then it could be a big help. For the same my suggestions to the CA institute are:

Organize the free seminar to let the members know the real & practical benefits of going into practice

Tie up with various banks to provide the financial assistance to the members wants to go in Practice

Built a professional park like we have IT parks (One of the best suggestion I can thought about)

Deep scrutiny into the operations of big firms or medium size firms to check how far they complying with the Professional Ethics provided by the CA institute.

Organize free seminars to build the confidence among members and improve their communication skills

Provide them the practical solutions to the practical problems for being into practice

CA CS Prakash Somani

ICAI expresses its concern on the proposed definition of “Accountant” in DTC, 2013 - (17-04-2014)

Announcement by ICAI in relation to proposed change in definition to the term 'Accountant' in proposed DTC

As the members are aware, the Direct Taxes Code, 2013 has proposed to widen the scope of the definition “Accountant” to include other professionals as well. It is a fact that various provisions in the Income-tax Act, 1961 under which chartered accountants have been given the responsibilities to undertake audit and certification of accounts of various entities have the emphasis on “audit” of the relevant accounts which is the exclusive domain of Chartered Accountants.

The Council of ICAI is aware that the proposed change is a cause of major concern to the entire profession. In this regard, ICAI has through a representation to Ministry of Finance, placed on record its concern not only for the profession, but for the country as a whole since issuance of audit certificates by persons having limited knowledge of audit of accounts will not only be professionally incorrect and but will raise many concerns including causing huge revenue leakages.

A meeting in this regard was held with Mr. Rajiv Takru, Revenue Secretary and Mr. R.K.Tewari, Chairman, CBDT on 16.4.2014, wherein CA. K. Raghu, President, ICAI and CA. Manoj Fadnis, Vice President, ICAI emphasized on the fact that there is a very significant difference in the area of expertise of other professionals vis-a-vis Chartered Accountants.

Members be assured that the Council of ICAI is equally concerned and will not leave any stone unturned to save the profession and the nation.

Secretary, Direct Taxes Committee

Validity of Registration period of CA Students

June 4, 2008

Period of Validation of Registration of CA Students

The Council considered the recommendations of the Executive Committee made at its 472nd meeting held on 21st March, 2008 on the proposal/suggestion of the Board of Studies for discontinuing the registration and introduction of a scheme of revalidation of registration of the CA students and decided as under so that name of students who are not pursuing the course after getting registered be stuck off the records:-

I.  CPT:  Students register themselves for CPT course and this registration is valid for indefinite period.

The registration for CPT Course will be valid for a period of 3 years from the date the student becomes eligible to appear in CPT exam for the first time or for the period so long the student continues to appear in the examination regularly whichever is later. Accordingly the registration of a student will continue to be valid as long as the student continues to appear in the CPT exam irrespective of the period involved which may be beyond three years. After expiry of the period of 3 years from the date the student became eligible to appear in CPT for the first time, his registration will lapse. However, the registration shall not lapse if such student has appeared in at least one of the last two examinations conducted just before the end of three years. The registration of such student shall however lapse in case he subsequently does not appear in two consecutive examinations.

A student whose registration gets lapsed will be eligible for re-registration. Such students will be required to re-register himself/herself by paying a nominal revalidation fee of Rs.500/-. Such re-registration will again be valid for a period of 3 years or for the period so long the student continues to appear in the examination regularly. After the expiry of 3 years from the date of re-registration, the re-registration will again lapse. However the re- registration shall not lapse if such student has appeared in at least one of the last two examinations conducted just before the end of three years. The registration of such student shall however lapse in case he subsequently does not appear in two consecutive examinations.

Such student will again be eligible to revalidate his/her registration by re-registering himself/herself and paying the aforesaid revalidation fee of Rs.500/-. There is no time limit for revalidation. The scheme of education in force at the time of revalidation shall be applicable to such students. This process of re-registration / revalidation shall continue in the same manner till further amendments. Revalidation can be done at any time before the due date of filling of examination forms.

II.  PE-I:  Students who have already registered themselves for PE-I are eligible for the five attempts and the last date of PE-I exam was November 2007. But if the student who did not qualify the exam till the scheme of appearing in PE-I was open, student may register afresh for CPT by paying the full registration fee of CPT at rate applicable at the time of migration to CPT.

Those students who have exhausted all the attempts will have to register afresh by paying full registration fees for CPT, i.e., Rs.3500/- applicable at present.

In case a student of PE-I has not exhausted all the attempts, the students may be permitted to convert into CPT by paying Rs.100/- towards the cost of prospectus and such students will be issued the study material of CPT free of cost.

III.  PCC & PE-II:  The registration for PCC/PE-II Course will be valid for a period of 5 years from the date of initial registration. Further the registration will continue to be valid as long as the student continues to appear in either or both groups of the PCC exam irrespective of the period involved which may be beyond five years. After expiry of the period of 5 years from the date the student initially registered himself/herself for PCC/PE-II course his registration will lapse except where such student has appeared in at least one of the last two examinations conducted just before the end of five years. The registration of such student shall however lapse in case he subsequently does not appear in two consecutive examinations.

A student whose registration gets lapsed will be eligible for re registration. Such students will be required to re-register himself/herself by paying a nominal revalidation fee of Rs.500/-. Such re-registration will again be valid for a period of 5 years or for the period so long the student continues to appear in the examination regularly whichever is later. After the expiry of 5 years from the date of re-registration the registration will again lapse. . The re- registration shall not lapse if such student has appeared in at least one of the last two examinations conducted just before the end of five years. The registration of such student shall however lapse in case he subsequently does not appear in two consecutive examinations.

Such student will again be eligible to revalidate his/her registration by re-registering himself/herself and paying the aforesaid revalidation fee of Rs.500/-.

There is no time limit for revalidation. The scheme of education in force at the time of revalidation shall be applicable to such students. Exemption(s) for group passed earlier or valid paper-wise exemption(s) would be governed by applicable Regulations at the relevant time. This process of re-registration / revalidation shall continue in the same manner till further amendments. Revalidation can be done at any time before the due date of filling of examination forms.

It may be further clarified that the above scheme shall be subject to the following in respect of PE-II students who have already registered themselves for PE-II are eligible for five attempts and the last such attempt of PE-II exam will be May 2008. But if the student who does not qualify the exam till the scheme of appearing in PE-II is open as above, student may register afresh for PCC by paying the full registration fee of PCC cum Articleship cum ITT at rate applicable at the time of migration to PCC.

Those students who have exhausted all the attempts will have to register afresh by paying full registration fees for PCC cum Articleship cum ITT, i.e., Rs.7,500/- applicable at present. But if the student has already been registered for articleship and / or ITT (earlier CCT), the student would not be required to register afresh for the same.

In case a student of PE-II has not exhausted all the attempts, student would be permitted to convert into PCC by paying the applicable fee.

IV.  Final:  At present, students register themselves for Final course and this registration is valid for indefinite period.

The registration for Final Course will be valid for a period of 5 years from the date of initial registration. Further, the registration will continue to be valid as long as the student continues to appear in either or both groups of the Final exam irrespective of the period involved which may be beyond five years. After expiry of the period of 5 years from the date the student initially registered himself/herself for Final course his registration will lapse except where such student has appeared in at least one of the last two examinations conducted just before the end of five years. The registration of such student shall however lapse in case he subsequently does not appear in two consecutive examinations.

A student whose registration gets lapsed will be eligible for re registration. Such students will be required to re-register himself/herself by paying a nominal revalidation fee of Rs.500/-. Such re-registration will again be valid for a period of 5 years or for the period so long the student continues to appear in the examination regularly whichever is later. After the expiry of 5 years from the date of re-registration the registration will again lapse. . The re- registration shall not lapse if such student has appeared in at least one of the last two examinations conducted just before the end of five years. The registration of such student shall however lapse in case he subsequently does not appear in two consecutive examinations.

Such student will again be eligible to revalidate his/her registration by re-registering himself/herself and paying the aforesaid revalidation fee of Rs.500/-.

There is no time limit for revalidation. The scheme of education in force at the time of revalidation shall be applicable to such students. Exemption(s) for group passed earlier or valid paper-wise exemption(s) would be governed by applicable Regulations at the relevant time. This process of re-registration / revalidation shall continue in the same manner till further amendments. Revalidation can be done at any time before the due date of filling of examination forms.

It is hereby clarified that the above decision does not alter or modify the existing Regulation or any other notification so far the otherwise eligibility or exemption of the students or any restriction/obligation on the student is concerned. The above scheme is meant to take off the records the data of such students who have got registered for any course and are not interested in pursuing the course further.

The above decision of the Council will take effect from 1.4.2008.

Clarification on Applicability of CPE hours requirement for the newly enrolled members during the block of three years 1.1.2011 to 31.12.2013. - (09-12-2013)

1. As per the Statement on CPE a member is exempted only for the particular calendar year during which he gets his membership for the first time.

2.  For Example: members enrolled at any point of time during the Calendar year 2011 (1st January-31st December, 2011) are exempted for the Calendar Year 2011. For the Calendar Years 2012 & 2013 they would be required to comply with proportionate CPE hours requirement. Members enrolled during the year 2011 with COP would be required to complete 60 CPE hours in the calendar year 2012 and 13. Out of 60 CPE hours, minimum 40 CPE hours should be under Structured Learning and 20 CPE hours under Structured/Unstructured Learning as per choice and Non-COP holders are required to complete 30 CPE hours under Structured/Unstructured Learning as per choice.

3   members enrolled at any point of time during the Calendar year 2012 (1st January-31st December, 2012) are exempted for the Calendar Year 2012. For the Calendar Year 2013 they would be required to comply with proportionate CPE hours requirement. Members enrolled during the year 2012 with COP would be required to complete 30 CPE hours for the calendar year 2013. Out of 30 CPE hours minimum 20 CPE hours should be under Structured Learning and 10 CPE hours under Structured/Unstructured Learning as per choice and Non-COP holders are required to complete 15 CPE hours under Structured/Unstructured Learning as per choice for the calendar year 2013.

4   members enrolled at any point of time during the Calendar year 2013 (1st January-31st December, 2013) whether holding COP or not are exempted for this block of three years (2011 to 2013)

5.  ICAI’s CPE Advisory on Unstructured Learning and prescribed format for claiming Unstructured CPE Credit hours is available at URL: http://www.cpeicai.org/Advisory-Unstructured%20Learning%20Activities.pdf.

Source: ICAI Website

Penal provisions for the members of the Institute who had not complied with their CPE Hours requirements for the block period of 3 years (1-1-2011 to 31-12-2013).

For kind information of the members Sub : Penal provisions for the members of the Institute who had not complied with their CPE Hours requirements for the block period of 3 years (1-1-2011 to 31-12-2013) In order to function the system of mandatory CPE effective, the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has decided that the members who fail to comply with their CPE Hours requirement for the current block of 3 years (1-1-2011 to 31-12-2013) are appropriately sanctioned. Therefore, the Council of the Institute has decided as under : All the members are required to complete their CPE hours requirements for the block period of 3 years (1-1-2011 to 31-12-2013) by 31st December, 2013. Any shortfall in the CPE credit for the calendar years 2011, 2012 and 2013 should be met by the members by 31st December, 2013. The names of the members who fail to comply with their CPE hours Requirements for the block period of 3 years by 31st December, 2013 would be hosted on the website of the ICAI for information of public at large. Further, the ICAI will not be responsible in any way for any action taken by any of the regulatory authorities on the basis of the names hosted on the website for allotting the professional work to them as sole proprietor or to their partnership firm. To strike out the name/s from the list so hosted on the website, the member/s shall have to make up any shortfall in their CPE credit hours for the above block period of 3 years by obtaining twice of the amount of the shortfall. Such addition shall be in addition to the regular CPE hours requirement for the particular Calendar year in which they are making up the shortfall. The members are requested to note the above. The members are also requested to comply with the CPE Hours requirements for the current year by 31st December, 2013. (Secretary, CPE Committee of ICAI)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs) ON e-FILING OF TAX AUDIT REPORT

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs) ON e-FILING OF TAX

AUDIT REPORT

(Developed by Direct Taxes Committee of ICAI in consultation with the Officials of Directorate

of Income-Tax (Systems)

Note: This document deals with those FAQ’s which are not covered in the e-filing portal. The
members may visit the www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in for other FAQ’s.

[Go to home page of www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in, click on ‘Help’ menu at right topmost corner
of the page, then click on the link as may be considered necessary]

1. What is the complete procedure to upload tax audit reports by Tax Professionals?
The procedure of e- filing is explained at the following path of e-filing website:
https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/e-Filing/Portal/StaticPDF/Registration_Services.pdf?0.2231070064008236

However, the procedure in brief is mentioned below:
Step- I Registration on e-filing portal Action by Chartered Accountant
a) Access www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in
b) Click on ‘Register Yourself’ tab and select the user type under Tax Professional as ‘Chartered
Accountant’
c) Enter Basic details:
 Details of membership of ICAI: MRN, Enrollment date
 Personal Details: Surname, Middle Name, First Name, Date of Birth, PAN, E-mail id
 Digital Signature Certificate: upload .pfx file or USB token
 Click ‘Submit’
d) After successful submission of above basic details, enter details in registration form:
 Set Password.
 Set primary secret question and answer thereof.
 Set secondary secret question and answer thereof
 Enter contact details: Landline number, mobile number; alternate number; e-mail id &
alternate e-mail id; Fax number
 Postal Address
 Subscribe to e-mail and alerts
 Captcha Code

After successful submission of all above details, the user will receive a confirmation e-mail
containing an activation link. The user account will be activated as soon as the user triggers that link,
thereby updating the database of Income-tax Department. An SMS will also be sent at the registered
contact number of the user notifying that a confirmation mail was sent to his/her registered e-mail id.

Step- II Add Chartered Accountant Action by Assessee
a) Assessee is required to login into his/her account by entering user id and password at
www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in
b) Go to ‘My Account’ tab and select ‘Add CA’
c) Enter MRN of the CA. After entering correct 6 digits MRN of CA, the name of CA will
automatically get prefilled.
d) Select the Form no. for which CA is supposed to be added.
e) Select Assessment Year
f) Enter the image of the captcha code
g) Click ‘Submit’
After successful submission of above, a message will be displayed notifying the addition of CA in
assessee’s profile.
Step- III Submit Tax Audit report Action by Chartered Accountant
After successful uploading of tax audit report, the said form will go to assessee for approval.
Step- IV Approval or Rejection of uploaded tax audit
report
Action by Assessee
a) Login the account and navigate to ‘Work list’ tab (Assessee will be able to view list of forms
submitted by Chartered Accountant along with attachment)
b) Click on ‘View Form’
c) Assessee can verify the form and approve/reject the form (other than ITR).
d) The acceptance of the form (other than ITR) by the assessee is to be made under his/her
Digital Signature.
e) If assessee is rejecting the form, reason for such rejection has to be provided.
An email will be sent to the registered e-mail id after successful submission of the form
along with the acknowledgement number.

2. Whether Schedules and Notes to Accounts are also required to be uploaded with Balance
Sheet and P&L?
Form No. 3CA requires the tax auditor to annex a copy of the Statutory Audit Report along
with the copy of audited Profit and Loss Account/ Income & Expenditure Account, audited
Balance Sheet and documents declared by the said Act to be a part of / or annexed to the
Balance Sheet and Profit and loss Account/ Income & Expenditure Account. Accordingly, the
same are required to be uploaded.
With regard to Form No.3CB, the tax auditor is required to annex the audited Balance Sheet,
Profit and loss account /Income & Expenditure Account along with notes to accounts and
schedules, if any, forming part of Balance Sheet, Profit and loss account /Income &
Expenditure Account.

3. Whether it is mandatory to upload a scanned copy of signed Balance Sheet, P&L and
other documents?
Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss Account in Word, Excel Format, etc signed as “sd/-” can be
converted in to ‘.pdf’ file and uploaded on the portal. However, the auditor should maintain the
physically signed Audited Report in his records and ensure from that there is no difference
between physical report and PDF file uploaded.

4. Whether Name / Date of Birth (DOB) of the Chartered Accountant given in PAN database
(as per ITD e-filing website) is to be matched with the ICAI database for successful
registration in the e-filing portal?
E-filing portal verifies the Name of Member and Date of Birth entered in Registration Form
from ICAI Database and also PAN Database. In case there is difference / mismatch of details
between the two Databases the portal will not allow registration. In case any member is facing
such difficulty, please refer to procedure given in the following link
http://220.227.161.86/30652dtc20622.pdf

5. Whether audit conducted under section 44AD, 44BB, 44BBB & 44AE is required to be
filed electronically?
Sections 44AD, 44BB, 44BBB & 44AE provide that in specified cases the assessee is required
to get his accounts audited and furnish the report of such audit as required under section
44AB. Therefore, e-filing is applicable to such audits also.

6. Where the Firm Registration No. (FRN) should be mentioned in the e-forms?
The present E-filing portal does not provide field to mention FRN, however, the department is
in the process of enabling this facility. Till the utility is configured to allow entering of FRN,
members need not mention their FRN.

7. Where should the comments/observations in respect of a particular clause of Form
No.3CD is to be mentioned in the e-form?
Comments / observations, if any relating to the clauses may be given in Form 3CA/3CB
subject to space provided therein. Alternatively, they can be uploaded as PDF file in the field
‘Upload other report’ of the portal.

8. In case tax audit is conducted by joint auditors, what is the procedure to upload tax audit
report electronically?
The e-filing portal allows the report to be uploaded by a single auditor. Therefore, the joint
auditors may mutually agree and decide the auditor who shall upload the report. However, all
the joint auditors should sign the hard copies.
As per the ICAI’s “Guidance Note on Tax Audit u/s 44AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961”, it is
possible for the assessee to appoint two or more chartered accountants as joint auditors for
carrying out the tax audit, in which case, the audit report will have to signed by all the chartered
accountants. As per Standards on Auditing 299 (Responsibility of Joint Auditors) issued by
ICAI, normally, the joint auditors are able to arrive at an agreed report. In such case, the
physical copy should be signed by all the auditors. Thereafter, any one of them may upload the
report.
However, where the joint auditors are in disagreement with regard to any matters to be covered
by the report, each one of them should express his own opinion through a separate report. A
joint auditor is not bound by the views of the majority of the joint auditors regarding matters to
be covered in the report and is required to express his opinion in a separate report in case of a
disagreement. Such separate reports are also to be uploaded on the portal.

9. What is the procedure to furnish revised audit report electronically?
In case of revision, the audit report should be given in the manner suggested by the Institute in
SA-560 (Revised) “Subsequent Events”. It may be pointed out that report under section
44AB should not normally be revised. However, sometimes a member may be required to
revise his tax audit report on grounds such as:
(i) revision of accounts of a company after its adoption in annual general meeting.
(ii) change of law e.g., retrospective amendment.
(iii) change in interpretation, e.g. CBDT’s circular, judgments, etc.
(iv) Any other reason like system/software error requiring change in report already
uploaded.
In case, where a member is called upon to report on the revised accounts, then he must
mention in the revised report that the said report is a revised report and a reference should be
made to the earlier report also. In the revised report, reasons for revising the report should also
be mentioned.
The e-filing portal allows uploading such Revised Audit Report by the CA for the same PAN
and Assessment Year.

10. Is there any upper limit on the no. of audit reports which can be uploaded by a
Chartered Accountant on e-filing portal?
As per ICAI Council Guidelines No.1-CA(7)/02/2008, dated 8th August,2008, a member of the
Institute in practice shall not accept, in a financial year, more than the 45 tax audit assignments
under Section 44AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961. However, audits conducted under sections
44AD and 44AE shall not be included in this limit.
Since, the Income-tax Act,1961 does not provide any limit on number of tax audits assignments
which can be undertaken by a Chartered Accountant the e-filing portal does not provide any
restriction. However, members are required to comply with the prescribed ceiling limits.

11. If there are 10 partners in a firm of Chartered Accountants, then how many tax audits
reports can each partner sign in a financial year?
As per Chapter VI of Council General Guidelines, 2008 (Tax Audit Assignments under Section
44AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961), a member of the Institute in practice shall not accept, in a
financial year, more than the specified number of tax audit assignments as prescribed under
Section 44AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The specified number of tax audit assignments
under Section 44AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961 is 45.


It is further provided in Chapter VI of Council General Guidelines, 2008 that in case of firm of
Chartered Accountants in practice, specified number of tax audit assignments means 45 tax
audit assignments per partner of the firm, in a financial year.
Therefore, if there are 10 partners in a firm of Chartered Accountants in practice, then all the
partners of the firm can collectively sign 450 tax audit reports. This maximum limit of 450 tax
audit assignments may be distributed between the partners in any manner whatsoever. For
instance, 1 partner can individually sign 450 tax audit reports in case remaining 9 partners are
not signing any tax audit report.

It is needless to say that the tax audit assignment should be in accordance with the Standard on
Quality Control (SQC) 1: Quality Control for Firms that Perform Audits and Reviews of
Historical Financial Information, and Other Assurance and Related Services Engagements
12. What is recommended system requirements for facilitating e-filing?

To increase the computer processing speed all the previous versions of java be removed from
the computer. To use the e-forms utility install Java Runtime Environment Version 7 update 13
(jre 1.7 is also known as jre version 7) or https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in

13. If tax audit report is issued and the ITR is filed prior to issuance of the Notification No.
34/2013, dated 01-05-2013 which mandates e-filing of audit reports. In such cases whether
e-filing of audit reports is required?
CBDT Notification No. 34/2013 dated 1-05-2013 provides that the rules prescribed therein shall
be deemed to have come into force with effect from the 1st day of April, 2013. Accordingly,
even if ITR has been filed prior to issuance of said Notification, Tax Audit report is required to
be e-filed separately.

14. In case of e-filing of audit reports what is the date of audit report?
Date on which the report is physically signed by the Auditor shall be the date of audit report.

15. Is it possible to e-file the ITR first and then e-file the audit report?
e-filing of ITR and Tax Audit report are independent actions. However, it is advisable to first
upload tax audit report and then file IT return.

16. Even after filling complete details in the first page of ITR-7, one is not allowed to proceed
to second page. What should be done in such a case?
The trust should first fill the status and then PAN.

Members facing difficulty in registering themselves as “Tax professionals” in the e-filing portal

As the members are aware, e-filing of Tax Audit Reports has been made mandatory from the AY 2013-14 onwards vide Notification No. 34/2013 dated 01-05-2013. In order to e-file Tax Audit

Report a Chartered Accountant requires to register himself in the e-filing portal as a “Tax
professional”.

The Direct Taxes Committee of ICAI has been intimated that issues are being faced by the
members in registering themselves in e-filing portal due to mismatch of their Date of Birth
and/or name. This mismatch may be on account of various reasons like wrong date of Birth in PAN, wrong date of Birth in ICAI records, different name in the PAN vis-a-vis ICAI records etc.

In order to successfully register in the e-filing portal, members facing such issues are required to get the Date of Birth or name corrected if the same is required, so that there is no mismatch in future. For example, if the date of birth mentioned as per educational records ( noted by ICAI) is not the date of birth mentioned in PAN card, the procedure to change the Date of Birth in PAN card is required to be followed. Also, if the name mentioned in ICAI records is different than members name mentioned in PAN card due to change of name post marriage or punching error etc., the procedure for change of name in ICAI records or PAN card, as the case may be, is required to be followed.

A- In case of mis-match in name
1. The member can change his name by furnishing an Affidavit duly sworn before 1st class
magistrate/notary public stating the correct name member desires to be recorded by
ICAI.
B- In case of mis-match in date of birth:

1. The date of birth recorded in the ICAI, based on the educational records, will not be
changed. In such cases the date of birth mentioned in PAN card needs to be rectified by
the member concerned.

2. Pending rectification in the PAN card, the member can furnish the following documents
to the Institute:
(a) Self attested copy of the existing PAN card.
(b) Self attested copy of application submitted for rectification in PAN card.
(c) Undertaking by member to furnish the rectified copy of PAN card to the Institute on
or before 15th December, 2013.

3. The documents mentioned in para (2) above are to be submitted to the concerned
decentralized office of ICAI, in hard copy or soft copy (digitally signed) to the following
respective email ids:
Decentralized office Email Id
WIRC wromem@icai.in
SIRC sromem@icai.in
EIRC eromem@icai.in
CIRC cromem@icai.in
NIRC nromem@icai.in
Thereafter, the Institute will take on record the PAN of the member and in turn send it
to DGIT (Systems).

4. Upon receipt of PAN of the member from the ICAI, the member will be permitted to be
registered as “Tax professional” in the e-filing portal. It will take around 5 working days
for a member to register himself as Tax Professional after submitting the information to
the ICAI.

In case, the member, after giving declaration for filing the rectified PAN with ICAI does not
provide a self attested copy of the changed PAN card by 15th December 2013, to ICAI without any reasonable cause, the same may result in unfavorable consequences for giving wrong undertaking in this regard.