Registration of Entities for Undertaking CSR Activities – Procedure
Pursuant to the provisions of section 135 of the Companies Act read along with Rules 4(1) and 4(2) of the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, the e-form CSR-1 is to be filed by the companies for undertaking any Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Activities. These companies/entities are required to mandatorily register themselves with the central government for undertaking any CSR activity by filing the e-form CSR-1 with the Registrar.
In addition to this, the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, also states that the company can take CSR activities either on its own or through any of the following entities namely:
- A company formed under Companies Act section 8, or a public trust or a society, which are registered as per the provisions of section 12A and 80 G of the Income Tax Act, formed by the company, either in single or along with any other company; or
- A company which was formed as per section 8 of the Companies Act or a registered trust or a registered society, which was formed by the Central Government or State Government; or
iii. Any entity which was formed as per the Act of Parliament or a State legislature; or
- A company which is formed under section 8 of the Act, or a public trust which is registered or a society which is registered under section 12A and 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and has aset track record of not less than three years in conducting similar activities.
So, the above-specified companies should mandatorily take registration with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) by filing form CSR-1 for any CSR Projects from 01st April 2021. And this provision related to taking mandatory registration shall not apply to any projects which were approved prior to the 1st of April 2021. Hence, this aborts any requirement for the filing of form CSR-1 with respect to the projects that are ongoing as on1st April 2021.
And it should be noted that if company registration online is carrying on the CSR Activities or projects on itself then the requirement for the filing of form CSR-1 shall not be applicable.
Documents Mandatorily Required for Filing of Form CSR-1
- A copy of the Registration Certificate
- A copy of the PAN Card of both the entities.
- DIN/PAN of the Director, Trustee, Secretary, etc. of the company
- A copy of the Resolution authorizing the person by the entity with Resolution number and date of the resolution
- DSC of the person
Procedure for Filing Form CSR-1
- Download the form CSR-1 from the MCA website following the below-given steps:
(i.a) The applicant should visit or take an access to the official onlineportal of the Ministry of Corporate Office (MCA) and Click on ‘Forms & Downloads’, which is given on the top of the webpage.
(i.b) Scrooch down the website page to ‘Incorporation services’ and tap mouse button on the option namely, Registration of Entities for undertaking CSR activities Form CSR-1. Download the e-Form with or without the Instruction, which will get downloaded as a zip file, which should then be opened for getting the form and instruction separate.
(i.c) A file in PDF format named ‘Form_CSR-1’ should be opened, which is the one for registration of entities for undertaking CSR activities.
- Once the form has been downloaded and filled with all the necessary and mandatory details being asked in the form, the applicant needs to access the official website of the MCA or the Ministry of Corporate Affairs so as to furnish Form CSR-1. And by login into the portal, the user can furnish the details by uploading Form CSR-1.
iii. For this the company should log in to the portal, entering a valid ‘Corporate identity number’ (CIN).
- Select the purpose of the e-Form from the drop-down menu and choose the filing of CSR-1.
- Declaration and Designation would be the next step and for this, any one of the options from the drop-down values shall be selected for declaration and then digitally sign the Form CSR-1. And the following shall be noted:
(v.a) In case the person who is digitally signing the Form CSR-1 is a director, an approved DIN needs to be provided.
(v.b) In case the person who is digitally signing the Form CSR-1 is a manager, enter approved DIN or valid income-tax PAN.
(v.c) The Membership number needs to be filed, in case the person digitally signing the Form CSR-1 is Company Secretary.
- The documents pertaining to the filing of form CSR-1 should be uploaded now, by clicking on the ‘attach’ button. After which the ‘payment’ button should be clicked for making payment of the applicable fee.
vii. Once the form CSR-1 has been successfully submitted, the same shall be processed by the registrar of Companies (ROC). And on such successful submission of form SRN will be generated and displayed to the applicant, which can be used for any future correspondence with the MCA pertaining to such form submission.
viii. A challan on the successful payment of the fees for filing of CSR-1 and the submission of the same shall also be generated, which will contain all the details of the fees paid. This can also be treated as an acknowledgment given to the applicant for the filing of form CSR-1.
- On the complete and successful processing of the form CSR-1 by the concerned authority, an acknowledgment shall be sent to the official mail of the company. And there shall be a unique CSR Registration Number generated by the system automatically also assigned to the applicant.
Signing and Certification of Form CSR-1
| IN CASE OF | SIGNED BY |
| Section 8 Company | Any Director |
| Registered Public Trust | Any one of the Trustee or CEO |
| Registered Society | Chairperson/CEO/Secretary |
| Entity that was formed under the ACT of Parliament or State Legislature | Authorized Representative |
