The process of setting up a private limited company has changed since the Companies Act was revised. Previously, reserving a company's specific name required submitting a separate document to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). In this article, let us look at the extensions granted to companies during the pandemic in this regard.
Do you want to reserve your company names so that no one else can use it in the near future? If you think that’s impossible, think again! In addition to Spice + form A, the Reserve Unique Name (RUN) web service allows you to reserve or change your company name. It even helps you determine whether the company name is distinctive. Before the introduction of the RUN from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, all applications for business names were available in form INC-1 (MCA).
What Is the Reservation Period for Company Names?
According to the Companies Act of 2013, companies must first reserve their names for incorporation with the RoC. (Registrar of Companies). Furthermore, companies must reserve their names if they wish to change them.
The information and documents it receives from companies allow the CRC (Central Registration Centre) to reserve the company name for a set period. The information that the RoC receives and the documents it receives from the companies will be sent to the CRC (Central Registration Centre), which reserves the company name for a specified period.
- For the incorporation of a new company, the reservation period is 20 days.
- Additionally, the reservation period is 60 days to change an existing company’s name.
- For LLPs (Limited Liability Partnerships), the reservation period is 90 days for new registrations and changes to the name of an existing firm.
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Extension Granted for New Company Incorporations During the Pandemic
As per MCA guidelines, new companies must file Part B of SPICe+ within 20 days after the name reservation. If you are a new company and your company name expires any day between the 15th and 31st of May 2020, you were given 20 more days (beyond 31 May) to file the SPICe+ Part B form.
To file this form, you must log in to the MCA online portal with your designated user ID and password. After logging in successfully, you will find your approved company name on your dashboard. To continue, click the link that displays your application number or SRN.
Extension Granted for Existing Companies
Existing companies that were looking to change their company names needed to file the INC-24 form within 60 days after the name reservation. If your company was already incorporated, you just needed to apply to change your name. This implies that if your company name has expired any day between the 15th and 31st of May, you have been given 60 more days (beyond 31 May) to file the INC-24 form.
Extension Granted for RSUB Validity
The MCA even extended the validity of RSUB (Resubmission) of the SRN (Service Request Number) for companies whose resubmission dates were due to expire between 15 March and 31 May 2020. For such companies, an additional 15 days beyond 31 May has been granted. However, for companies whose SRNs are in the NTBR (cannot Take on Record) category, the extension was granted case-to-case basis.
Extension Granted for LLPs
The Companies Act of 2013 requires LLPs to reserve their preferred name for company incorporation with the RoC first (Registrar of Companies). The same procedure can be followed if existing LLPs want to change their company names. They must submit the FiLLiP (Form for Incorporation of LLP) in case of new incorporations and Form 5 (change of name notice) for existing companies, both of which must be submitted within 90 days of the name reservation.
As part of these relaxation measures, LLPs whose names were set to expire between 15 March and 31 May 2020 were granted an extension of 90 days beyond 31 May 2020.
Extension for RSUB Validity of LLPs
The MCA extended the validity of RSUB (Resubmission) of the SRN (Service Request Number) for LLPs whose resubmission dates were due to expire between 15 March and 31 May 2020.
Further, for such LLPs, an additional time frame of 15 days beyond 31 May was granted. However, the extension was granted on a case-to-case basis for LLPs whose SRNs were in the NTBR (cannot take on Record) category.
Extension for Marking IEPF-5 SRNs to Pending for Rejection Category
Companies could also file an IEPF-5 application to claim unpaid amounts from the IEPF (Investor Education and Protection Fund). Moreover, the deadline for filing the e-verification report was extended by MCA till 30 September 2020.
SRNs whose due date for filing was between 15 March and 31 May 2020 could do so (for both normal & resubmission) by 30 September. However, the extension was granted case-to-case basis for SRNs already in the ‘Pending for Rejection’ category.
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