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Form 61A of Income Tax - Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT)

What is Form 61A? - Statement of Specified Financial Transactions (SFT) Form 61A

Updated on: 16 Jan, 2024 05:49 PM

Meaning, Eligibility, Due Date, Penalty, Filing & Registration Steps

Form 61A is the statement of specified financial transactions that are required to be furnished under Section 285BA of the income tax by certain specified persons. Budget 2019 has widened the scope of the Statement of Financial Transaction by way of amending the scope of section 285BA. This was done in order to enable the pre-filling of the income tax return. Therefore, FY 2019-20 compliance has become even more stringent in this regard.

What is Form 61A of income tax?
Who must file Form 61A?
What are “Specified Financial Transactions” for filing Form 61A?
What is the due date/ time limit to file Form 61A?
What is the penalty for not filing?
What will happen incase of defective filing of form 61A?
How to register for SFT filing?
How to file Form 61A online?
Frequently Asked Questions

What is Form 61A of Income Tax?

Form 61A is the form in which the details of specified financial transactions are to be filed under section 285BA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 read with Rule 114E of the Income Tax rules, 1962.

Form 61A is used to report all the Specified Financial Transactions to the Income Tax Department. This helps the tax department to identify high-value transactions and compare them with the income reported by such persons(that are executing such high-value transactions) in their income tax returns. The tax department sends notices to such persons if there is a mismatch. Thus, it helps in avoiding tax evasion.

Who must file Form 61A?

The following persons/entities are required to file SFT when they enter into specified transactions as discussed below -

Person liable for audit u/s 44AB of the Income Tax Act
Banking Company
Co-operative Bank
Post Master General of Post office
Nidhi company referred u/s 406 of the Companies Act 2013
NBFC(Non-banking Financial Company)
Company or Institution issuing bonds or debentures
Company issuing shares
Listed Company (listed on a recognised stock exchange) purchasing its own securities u/s 68 of Companies Act 2013
Trustee of a Mutual Fund or such other person managing the affairs of the MF
Authorized Person under FEMA(Dealer, Money Changer, Off-shore Banking Unit or any other person defined in FEMA, 1999)
Inspector-General/Registrar/ Sub-Registrar appointed under Registration Act, 1908
Banking company or a co-operative bank or any other company or institution issuing a credit card

What are “Specified Financial Transactions” for filing Form 61A?

All Transactions incurred by the “Specified Person” of the nature/value specified in Table below are called the specified financial transactions. All these needs to be reported when filing Form 61A.

Specified Person	Type of transaction	Amount Value(Rs.)
Person liable for audit u/s 44AB of the Income Tax Act	Sale by any person, of goods or service of any nature	Receipt of cash exceeding Rs. 2 lakhs
Banking Company or Co-operative Bank	Payment made in cash for the purchase of : - Bank Draft’s - Pay orders(PO), --Banker’s Cheque - Pre-paid instrument issued by RBI	Aggregating Rs. 10 lakhs or more in a financial year.
Banking Company or Co-operative Bank	--> Cash deposit or cash withdrawals(including bearer’s cheque)	Aggregating Rs. 50 lakhs or more in a financial year ,from one or more current account of a person.
Banking Company or Co-operative Bank or Post Master General	Cash Deposit(other than current account and time deposit) of a person	Aggregating to Rs.10 lakh or more in one or more accounts
Banking Company or Co-operative Bank or Post Master General or Nidhi company or NBFC	One or more time deposits(other than one made through renewal of another time deposit) of a person	Aggregating to Rs.10 lakh or more in a financial year
Company or Institution issuing bonds or debentures	Receipt from any person for acquiring debenture/bonds issued by company/institution(other than amount received for renewal of the bond/debenture issued)	Amount aggregating Rs. 10 lakhs or more in a financial year
Company issuing shares	Receipt from any person acquiring shares(including share application money) issued by company	Amount aggregating Rs. 10 lakhs or more in a financial year
Listed Company (listed on a recognised stock exchange) purchasing its own securities u/s 68 of Companies Act 2013	Buyback of shares from any person (other than shares bought in open market)	Amount or value aggregating to Rs. 10 Lakhs or more in a financial year
Trustee of a Mutual Fund or such other person managing the affairs of the MF	Amount received for acquiring units of one or more schemes of mutual fund(other than amount received on account of tranfer from one scheme to another)	Receipt from any person of an amount aggregating to Rs. 10 lakhs or more in a financial year
Authorized Person under FEMA(Dealer, Money Changer, Off-shore Banking Unit or any other person defined in FEMA, 1999)	Receipt from any person from sale of foreign currency including any credit of such currency to foreign exchange card or expense in such currency through credit or debit card or through issue of travellers cheque or draft or any other instrument	Aggregate amount to 10 Lakh or more in a financial year
Inspector-General/Registrar/ Sub-Registrar appointed under Registration Act, 1908	Purchase or sale by an person of immovable property	Amount of Rs. 30 lakh or more or valued by stamp duty valuation authority referred to in section 50C at Rs. 30 lakh or more
Banking company or a co-operative bank or any other company or institution issuing a credit card	Payment made by any person, against bills raised in respect of one or more credit card issued to that person	Aggregate amount of Rs. 1 lakh or more in cash Or Rs. 10 lakh or more by any other mode
Banking Company or Co-operative Bank or Postmaster General	Cash deposits during 09th November, 2016 to 30th December, 2016	Amount aggregating to Rs. 12.50 lakh or more, in one or more current account of a person Rs. 2.50 lakh or more, in one or more accounts (other than a current account) of a person
Banking Company or Co-operative Bank or Postmaster General	Cash deposits during 01st April, 2016 to 09th November, 2016	In respect of accounts that are reportable in the just above point.

How to register for SFT filing?

The reporting person/entity must register with the Income Tax Department and generate ITDREIN(Income Tax Department Reporting Entity Identification Number). There will be no option to deactivate ITDREIN, once it is generated.

Step 1 : Log in to the e-Filing website (https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/) with the login ID used for the purpose of filing the Income Tax Return of the reporting person/entity.
Step 2 : Click “My Account” tab and select the “Reporting Portal” link to access the ‘Reporting Portal’ for first-time registration.
Step 3 : Now enter the following details - Form Type, Category, Address of reporting person/entity, and Details of Principal Officer.
Step 4 : After successful submission, the ITDREIN is generated. The Principal officer will receive an e-mail confirmation on the registered e-mail address and an SMS on the registered mobile number.

How to file Form 61A online?

For filing Form 61A first the prescribed schema, Report Generation and Validation Utility, and Generic Submission Utility need to be downloaded from the reporting portal under the “Resources” tab.
Then generate general and transaction-specific SFT in the specific format, as per the preparation guidelines.
Now, upload the prepared and digitally signed SFT at the reporting portal after login using the (PAN and password) of the designated director.

Upon successful filing, an “Acknowledgment Number” will be sent to the registered email id.

What is the due date/ time limit to file Form 61A?

The statement of the financial transaction shall be furnished on or before the 31st May immediately following the financial year in which the transaction is registered or recorded by the notified specified person.

However, the statement of financial transaction in respect of the last 2 transactions in the Table, was required to be furnished on or before the 31st January, 2017.(It should be added as it is part of rule, if found relevant by you for your purpose)

For FY 2019-20 the due date is 31st May 2020.(This has been extended to 30th June 2020 by the Finance Minister amid the covid-19 outbreak)

What is the penalty for not filing?

If a person required to furnish a statement of financial transaction under section 285BA fails to furnish such statement :

Within the time prescribed - Such person shall liable to pay the penalty u/s 271FA of Rs. 500 for every day during which such failure continues.
After issuing of notice to file a statement under section 285BA - Such person shall be liable to a penalty u/s 271FA, of Rs. 1000 per day starting from the day immediately following the day on which the time specified in the notice for furnishing statement expires till the the day failure continues.
If a person to whom a notice is issued to file the statement then such person is required to file such a statement within 30 days from the date of service of such notice.

What will happen incase of defective filing of form 61A?

If a specified person refered under section 285BA(1) files inaccurate details in form 61A then a penalty of Rs.50,000 shall be imposed u/s 271FAA of the Income Tax Act.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q- What is Rule 114E?

Rule 114E of the Income Tax Rules, 1962 specifies Form 61A, the form for filing the statement of specified financial transaction that is required to be furnished u/s 285BA(1).

Q- Is it mandatory to file Form 61A?

Yes it is mandatory to file for the specified entities in respect of specified financial transactions.

Q- What is ITDREIN?

ITDREIN (Income Tax Department Reporting Entity Identification Number)is the Unique ID issued by ITD which will be communicated by ITD after the registration of the reporting entity with ITD. The ITDREIN is a 16-character identification number in the format XXXXXXXXXX.YZNNN where :

ITDREIN Component	Description
XXXXXXXXXX	PAN or TAN of the reporting entity
Y	Code of Form Code
Z	Code of Reporting Entity Category for the Form Code
NNN	Code of Sequence Number

Q- What are different parts of Form 61A

There are different parts in Form 61A, which are mentioned below:

Part A (Statement Details): In this part of the form, following details are mentioned- Reporting Entity details, Statement details and Principal office details.
Part B (Report details for person based reporting): In this section, the following details are mentioned - Report number, Person details, Financial transaction summary and Financial transaction details.
Part C (Report details for Bank/ Post Office Account): This part of the form includes report number, account details, account summary and person details.
Part D (Report details for immovable property transactions based reporting). In this part of the form Report number, transaction details and person details are included.

ITR Filing FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25)