Form 61A

Relevant Statute

• Section 285BA of the Income-tax Act, 1961
• Rule 114E of the Income-tax Rules, 1962

Legal Provision

• Every specified reporting person mentioned in column (3) of the SFT Table in Rule 114E must file Form 61A .
• There are 13 specified categories of transactions that are required to be reported, including:

• • Cash deposits and withdrawals
  • Credit card payments
  • Purchase/sale of immovable property
  • Acquisition of shares, debentures, bonds, or mutual fund units
  • Cash payments for goods/services exceeding ₹2 lakhs
  • Foreign exchange transactions
  • Time deposits and others
• Certain reporting guidelines aggregate transactions per person and per type of transaction; Apply thresholds separately for cash deposits and withdrawals; Attribution is required if the transaction is recorded jointly
• The return in Form 61A is to be submitted to the Director or Joint Director of Income-tax (Intelligence and Criminal Investigation) through electronic upload. To be signed using a digital signature by the Designated Director (or attorney-holder in case of a non-resident). They must be registered with the Principal DGIT (Systems)
• The reporting person/entity is required to furnish a separate Form 61A for each transaction type. The transaction types under SFT have been categorised as under (Notification No. 3 of 2018, dated 05-04-2018):
• • SFT- 001: Purchase of bank drafts or pay orders in cash
  • SFT- 002: Purchase of pre-paid instruments in cash
  • SFT- 003: Cash deposit in current account
  • SFT- 004: Cash deposit in account other than current account
  • SFT- 005: Time deposit
  • SFT- 006: Payment for credit card SFT- 005: Time deposit
  • SFT- 007: Purchase of debentures
  • SFT- 008: Purchase of shares
  • SFT- 009: Buyback of shares
  • SFT- 010: Purchase of mutual fund units
  • SFT- 011: Purchase of foreign currency
  • SFT- 012: Purchase or sale of immovable property
  • SFT- 013: Cash payment for goods and services
  • SFT- 014: Cash deposits during the specified period (9th Nov to 30th Dec, 2016).

Applicable For

Entities covered under Rule 114E, including but not limited to:

• Banks and co-operative banks
• NBFCs
• Companies issuing credit cards, shares, bonds, or debentures
• Mutual funds
• Authorised foreign exchange dealers
• Sub-registrars (for immovable property)
• Persons liable to audit under section 44AB

Effective From

• Form 61A was substituted by the IT (22^nd Amendment) Rules, 2015, w.e.f. 1-4-2016.

Pre-requisites While Filing the Form

• Not applicable

Due Date

• 31st May of the assessment year following the financial year in which transactions are recorded.

How to file it

• Form no. 61A is to be filed online at https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/