Certification Services in Raipur

Foreign remittance certification — and an important change

The certificate required before money is remitted abroad is the one most businesses encounter first, and its form number has just changed.

From 1 April 2026, the accountant's certificate previously issued as Form 15CB is issued as Form 146, and the corresponding declaration by the remitter, previously Form 15CA, is now Form 145. The substance is unchanged; the numbering follows the renumbering of the income tax law.

The certificate is required where a payment to a non-resident, or to a foreign company, is taxable in India and the payment or the total of such payments exceeds ₹5 lakh in the financial year. It is event-based — a separate certificate for each remittance that meets the test.

What the certificate actually does is more than confirm figures. The Chartered Accountant examines whether the payment is chargeable to tax in India at all, applies the relevant double taxation treaty where one exists and where the beneficiary is entitled to it, and determines the rate at which tax should be withheld. Where a treaty gives a lower rate than the domestic rate, that has to be established properly on the evidence — including a tax residency certificate from the beneficiary — rather than assumed. Getting this wrong in either direction is expensive: too little withheld and the remitter is in default, too much and the money is gone.

We commonly issue these for import of plant and machinery, payments to foreign suppliers and consultants, royalty and technical service fees, and repatriation by non-residents from their accounts in India — the last being the most frequent, and the one where banks are most exacting about documentation.

Certificates for banks and lenders

Lending in India runs on Chartered Accountants' certificates, and the requirements repeat.

• Net worth certificate — for credit facilities, for tenders, for visa and immigration purposes, and for personal guarantees
• Turnover certificate — for tenders and for facility renewals
• Working capital and net working capital certificates
• Stock and debtors statements supporting drawing power
• End use of funds certificates, confirming that a facility was applied to the purpose for which it was sanctioned
• Certificates confirming a sole proprietorship for account-opening and know-your-customer purposes
• Certificates on unhedged foreign currency exposure, which lenders require of borrowers with overseas dealings

Certificates for tenders and government departments

For contractors and suppliers bidding for government work in Chhattisgarh — and there is a great deal of it — the certificate is often the difference between a bid being considered and being rejected on scrutiny. Requirements vary by tender but commonly include turnover for specified years, net worth, and confirmation of similar work executed.

Two practical points. The tender document's own format, where it prescribes one, must be followed rather than a standard format substituted. And the figures certified must agree with the filed returns and audited accounts, because that is what will be checked. A certificate that cannot be reconciled to the accounts creates a worse problem than a late bid.

We also issue utilisation certificates for grants and subsidies, confirming that funds released under a scheme were applied to the sanctioned purpose. These are a condition of further disbursement under most state and central schemes.

Other certificates we issue

Where a certificate is required in a format we have not seen before, we will tell you whether it can properly be issued at all — some formats put to Chartered Accountants ask for confirmation of matters that cannot be verified, and those need to be renegotiated with the recipient rather than signed.

• Certification of income tax return particulars, where a bank or an institution requires it
• Share capital and shareholding certificates
• Property, plant and equipment statements
• Certificates required under exchange control regulations, including for imports, external commercial borrowings and export-oriented undertakings
• Certificates required under schemes of merger or reconstruction
• Certificates on compliance with debenture covenants
• Certificates required by regulators, chambers and industry bodies

How we issue certificates — and why it takes what it takes

We work from records, not from statements. A net worth certificate is issued from audited accounts and supporting evidence of assets and liabilities, not from a schedule prepared by the client. A turnover certificate is reconciled to the returns filed. This is what makes the certificate worth having; a certificate that cannot withstand the recipient's scrutiny has cost the client time and achieved nothing.

Every certificate carries a unique document identification number. Since February 2019 the Institute has required this for every certificate in which a practising Chartered Accountant certifies financial information. The number is generated on the Institute's portal and can be verified online by the bank, department or authority receiving it — so a certificate's authenticity is independently checkable, and a certificate without a valid number is invalid from the outset.

Prescribed formats are followed. The Institute has issued guidance and formats for certificates of most common kinds, and issuing outside them is not a matter of style but of professional obligation.

Where we cannot certify, we say so. If the records do not support the assertion requested, the answer is not a qualified certificate that the recipient will reject anyway — it is to identify what would need to be in place, and by when.

Scope of our work

We determine which certificate is required and in what format; examine the underlying records and reconcile them to the filed returns and audited accounts; issue the certificate in the prescribed format with a unique identification number; deal with queries raised by the bank, department or authority receiving it; and, for foreign remittance, examine chargeability and treaty entitlement, determine the withholding rate, issue the accountant's certificate and file it on the income tax portal so that the remitter's declaration and the bank's processing can follow.

Where a certificate is needed repeatedly — quarterly stock statements, annual net worth for a facility renewal, remittance certificates for a regular importer — we set it up as a standing arrangement rather than a fresh instruction each time.