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What if the dividend had been declared and the same has not claimed or paid to the investors by the company?
Is there any specific fund is created by the Government of India fromwhere an investor can claim their part of dividend?
We are going to address it and discuss the procedural aspects of transfer of dividend to IEPF. |
The Government of India has created a fund called as Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF). It is maintained by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs of India (MCA), every company who has declared dividend and the same has remain unpaid or unclaimed for a period of 7 years the amount along with interest thereon needs to transferred to the IEPF along with a statement of the details of such transfer by filing the e-Form IEPF-1.
For procedural aspect of declaration of dividend refer to our blog on Dividend: Regulatory Framework.
In this article, we have looked upon the online procedure for filing of e-Form IEPF-1.
Legal Background
Pursuant to the provision of Section 125(2)of the Companies Act, 2013 (‘the Act’) read with the Rule 5 of the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016(‘the Rules’), any amount required to be credited by the companies to the Fundshall be remitted online along with a Statement in e-Form No. IEPF 1 containing details of such transfer to the IEPF Authority within a period of thirty days of such amounts becoming due to be credited to the Fund.
Procedure for Online Filing of e-FormIEPF-1
To file thee-FormIEPF-1, follow the steps given below:
1. Install the Pre-requisite Software to proceed. To know and install the same click on Prerequisite Software link
2. After installation, download the e-Form IEPF-1 from the official portal of
3. Fill the form with the requested detail and upload the duly filled e-FormIEPF-1 on MCA Portal.
4. Upon filling thee-Form IEPF-1on the MCA Portalthe user is required to make payment as per the scheduled fee.
5. After payment of fees, pay the amount which is required to be credited by the companies to the Fundby Loginon the MCA website and then select ‘Pay Miscellaneous Fee’ under the tab ‘MCA Services’, and select ‘Investor Education and Protection Fund’.
Note:The submitted e-form will be processed, and the details while processing will be saved in the MCA portal.
6. After uploading the e-FormIEPF-1 successfully, the user is required to upload the excel sheet related to the amounts credit to IEPF.
7. Download the excel templates from the official portal of IEPF and fill the excel template with investor-wise detail. Refer the ‘Read Me’ instruction provided in the excel template.
8. Enter the requested details in the excel sheet and click on the “Validate” button.
9. Uponvalidating, in case of any errors found can be rectified by clicking on “Error” tab.
10. To upload your excel fileaccess the IEPF Portaland then select “Upload investor-wise details”under the tab“Services”.
Note:– The user needs to login using the Id and password, which was provided while makingpayment.
11. After all the details are uploaded “confirm upload of unclaimed and unpaid amount details” under the tab “Services”.
Applicable Fee on filing of e-Form IEPF-1
In case of delay in filing of forms an additional fee would be levied as per the Companies (The Registration Office and Fees) Rules, 2014.
Denial of Liability
We have restricted this write up to the scope of Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) under the Chapter VIII of the Companies Act 2013 (i.e. Declaration and Payment of Dividend) read with the applicable rules made thereunder.
went thru your article Transfer of Dividend to IEPF – Procedural Aspects but this year as of now under Pay Miscellaneous Fee it is asking for SRN No. to proceed.
Pl advise
As per our understanding, SRN of Form IEPF-1 is to be mentioned while making payment for the transfer of unpaid dividend under payment of miscellaneous fees (considering the purpose of Form IEPF-1 is to report the transfer of unpaid dividend).