Annual return of deposits.
Almost every company assumes this one does not apply to it, because it has never taken a deposit. That is the wrong test. The return also covers money the rules expressly say is not a deposit — a director's loan, an advance from a customer, share application money, a bank facility. Once you have any of those, DPT-3 is due by 30 June.
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"We have no deposits" is not the answer to the question.
The deposit rules do two things. They regulate the acceptance of deposits, which almost no private company does. And they require a return from every company other than a government company, on or before 30 June each year, reporting the position as at 31 March — covering deposits, or particulars of transactions not considered as deposits, or both.
It is the second limb that catches everyone. The rules carve a long list of receipts out of the definition of deposit: money from a director, money from a bank or financial institution, money from another company, share application money pending allotment within the permitted period, advances received for the supply of goods or services, security deposits for performance of a contract, and several more. Those receipts are exempt from the deposit regime — and they are exactly what the return asks you to disclose.
Which means the practical position for a typical Goa private company is the opposite of what the name suggests. It has never accepted a deposit in its life, and it still has a filing obligation, because the promoter lent it money, or a customer paid an advance, or there is a working capital facility with a bank.
The other thing worth being clear about is the difference between the return and the underlying rules. Missing the return carries a penalty on the company and on officers in default. Actually accepting money that is a deposit without complying with the deposit regime is a different and far more serious matter. A company that has taken money from a shareholder or an outsider, believing it to be a loan, may have a problem that the return only makes visible — and that is worth knowing before it is disclosed rather than after.
The receipts that make this apply to you.
None of these are deposits. All of them are reportable.
| Receipt | Condition attached | How common |
|---|---|---|
| Loan from a director | The director furnishes a declaration that the amount is not being given out of funds borrowed or accepted from others, and the company discloses it in the board's report | Almost universal in small companies |
| Loan from a bank or financial institution | Received from a banking company, a public financial institution or an insurance company | Very common |
| Advance from a customer | Received for the supply of goods or provision of services, and appropriated within the prescribed period | Very common in hospitality and construction |
| Share application money | Pending allotment, where shares are allotted within the permitted period; beyond that it becomes a deposit | Common during funding rounds |
| Loan from another company | Any amount received from a company, including a holding or group company | Common in group structures |
| Money from a member of a private company | Subject to the limits and conditions the rules prescribe | Common, and the one most often mis-analysed |
| Security deposit for performance | Received as a security deposit for the performance of a contract for supply of goods or provision of services | Common in contracting |
The conditions attached matter as much as the categories. A director's loan without the declaration, or share application money left unallotted beyond the permitted period, does not stay outside the deposit definition — it becomes a deposit, and the consequences of that are far heavier than the consequences of a late return.
Six ways this catches companies.
"We do not take deposits, so it does not apply"
The most common belief and the reason DPT-3 is the single most under-filed annual form. The return covers exempt receipts as well as deposits, and a director's loan on the balance sheet is enough on its own to make it due.
The director's declaration was never taken
Money from a director sits outside the deposit definition only where the director declares that it is not out of funds borrowed or accepted from others, and the company discloses it. Without that declaration the exemption is not established, and a routine promoter loan starts to look like something else entirely.
Share application money was left pending too long
It is outside the deposit definition only while allotment is pending within the permitted period. Beyond that it is treated as a deposit from the day after the period expires — which is why allotment timelines matter well beyond the company law formalities.
Money came from a shareholder who is not a director
A loan from a member of a private company is outside the definition only within prescribed limits and conditions. Companies treat all "family money" as equivalent, and money from a shareholder, a relative of a director or an outsider are three different analyses with three different answers.
Customer advances were never appropriated
An advance for goods or services stays outside the definition while it is being applied to the supply. An advance sitting on the books for years against an order that never proceeded stops being an advance in substance, and the return is where that becomes visible.
The return was filed without checking the substance
Disclosing an amount as an exempt receipt does not make it one. Where the underlying position is that money was accepted in circumstances the rules do not permit, the return makes the exposure visible without curing it. That is a reason to look properly first — not a reason to skip the filing.
What you receive.
From balance sheet to filed return.
Read the balance sheet as at 31 March
Every borrowing, advance, deposit and unallotted amount is listed from the accounts rather than from memory. This is where the applicability question is actually answered, and the answer is almost always yes.
Classify each receipt
Deposit, exempt receipt, or ordinary trade balance. The source matters — director, member, another company, bank, customer — because each is treated differently and several carry conditions.
Test the conditions
The declaration for a director's loan, the limits for money from a member, the period for share application money, the appropriation of customer advances. An exemption claimed without its condition is not an exemption.
Fix what can be fixed
Missing declarations obtained, documentation put in place, and any receipt that is a deposit in substance dealt with on advice before the return is filed rather than disclosed and left.
File DPT-3
On the correct basis — deposits, exempt receipts or both — with the auditor's certificate where deposits are reported, filed by 30 June and tracked to approval.
Set up next year
Standing documentation for director loans, a note in the board's report, and a process for share application money and customer advances so the position is clean at the next year end rather than reconstructed in May.
Four things to start.
The balance sheet
As at 31 March, audited or not. Everything on this page is answered from it.
- Balance sheet with schedules
- Notes on borrowings and current liabilities
- Previous year's figures for comparison
Who the money came from
The source decides the classification, so it is listed party by party.
- Loans from directors, with dates and amounts
- Loans from members, relatives or outsiders
- Bank and financial institution facilities
Advances and application money
The two categories that most often turn into a problem quietly.
- Customer advances, with age and what they relate to
- Share application money and when it was received
- Security deposits held under contracts
The documentation
Whether the conditions attaching to each exemption were actually documented.
- Director declarations, if any exist
- Loan agreements or board resolutions
- Last year's DPT-3, if one was filed
What this looks like in Goa.
Small companies here run on money from directors, put in and taken out as cash flow requires. Every rupee of it is reportable, and the declaration that keeps it outside the deposit definition is almost never on file.
Booking deposits, event advances and season prepayments are advances for services and are reportable. Where an advance sits unappropriated for years against a booking that never happened, its character starts to change.
Advances against units and security deposits under contracts sit on these balance sheets for long periods. They are exactly the receipts the return is asking about, and exactly the ones nobody thinks of as deposits.
The distinction between a director, a shareholder who is not a director, and a relative of a director is not intuitive and is not academic. Money from each is treated differently, and the analysis has to be done party by party.
It falls between the LLP annual return in May and the company annual filing season in the autumn, so nothing else in the calendar draws attention to it. It is the most commonly missed annual form in an otherwise compliant company.
Usually needed alongside this.
Return of deposits, answered.
What is DPT-3 and who has to file it?
It is the annual return under the deposit rules, filed by every company other than a government company on or before 30 June each year, reporting the position as at 31 March.
It covers deposits, particulars of transactions not considered as deposits, or both. That second limb is why it applies to private companies and small companies that have never taken a deposit in their lives.
We have never taken deposits. Do we still file?
Almost certainly yes. The return asks about money received that is not treated as a deposit as well as about deposits themselves.
A loan from a director, a facility from a bank, an advance from a customer, share application money pending allotment, a loan from another company — each of those is an exempt receipt and each of them makes the return due. A company with any borrowing or any customer advance on its 31 March balance sheet is a filer.
Is a loan from a director a deposit?
Not if the conditions are met. Money received from a person who is a director at the time of receipt is outside the deposit definition provided the director furnishes a declaration that the amount is not being given out of funds acquired by borrowing or accepting loans from others, and the company discloses the details in its board's report.
Without that declaration, the exemption is not established. It is a one-page document that almost no small company has on file, and it is the first thing we ask for.
What about money from a shareholder who is not a director?
Different analysis. A private company may accept money from its members outside the deposit regime, but only within the limits and subject to the conditions the rules prescribe.
Money from a relative of a director who is not himself a member or a director is different again. Families treat all of this as the same thing and it is not — the source has to be identified party by party, and the answer genuinely differs.
Is share application money reportable?
Yes, and it carries a time limit that matters. Share application money is outside the deposit definition only while allotment is pending within the permitted period. If the shares are not allotted within that period and the money is not refunded, it is treated as a deposit from the day after it expires.
That is the point at which a delayed allotment stops being a company law timing issue and becomes a deposit problem. It is one of the reasons allotment deadlines are worth taking seriously.
Are customer advances reportable?
Yes. An advance received for the supply of goods or the provision of services is an exempt receipt, reportable in the return, provided it is appropriated against the supply within the prescribed period.
The issue arises with old advances. An amount held for years against an order that never proceeded is not really an advance for a supply any more, and the longer it sits the harder that position is to maintain. Hospitality and construction balance sheets in Goa carry a lot of these.
Do we need an auditor's certificate?
Where deposits are being reported, yes — the return is filed with a certificate from the company's auditor.
Where the company is reporting only exempt receipts, the position is lighter, but the figures still have to reconcile with the audited accounts. In practice the return is prepared alongside the accounts rather than separately, which avoids the mismatch that a standalone filing tends to produce.
What is the penalty for not filing?
The deposit rules provide for a fine on the company and on every officer in default for contravention, with a further amount for each day a continuing contravention persists.
The far heavier exposure is elsewhere. Actually accepting a deposit in contravention of the Act carries penalties measured against the amount of the deposit, and can extend to imprisonment for officers in default. That is why the analysis of what the money actually is matters more than the filing itself.
Does an LLP have to file DPT-3?
No. The deposit rules are made under the Companies Act and apply to companies. An LLP has no equivalent return.
An LLP's own annual obligations are Form 11 and Form 8, on entirely different dates. Where a group holds both companies and LLPs, the two calendars need to be tracked separately, because nothing in one prompts the other.
We have never filed this. What now?
Start with the classification rather than the form. Establish what the money on the balance sheet actually is, whether the conditions attaching to each exemption were met, and whether anything on there is a deposit in substance.
If the answer is that everything is a properly documented exempt receipt, the fix is simply to file, with the additional fee for the delay. If something on there is a deposit that should not have been accepted, that is a different conversation and it is far better had before a return discloses it than after.
Send the balance sheet and tell us who lent the money.
Those two answers settle whether the return applies, on what basis, and whether anything on the balance sheet needs attention before it is disclosed. Most companies discover the answer is yes, it applies — and that it always did.