The Company Procedure: SPICe+ and What It Does at Once

One form now does almost everything

The procedure changed shape when the Ministry of Corporate Affairs introduced SPICe+, the Simplified Proforma for Incorporating a Company Electronically Plus. It is a single integrated web form in two parts, and it produces, from one application, the name, the directors' identification numbers, the incorporation itself, and six other registrations.

That is the fact MU's topic is really about, and a candidate who describes the old separate forms has described a procedure that no longer exists.

The steps

Step 1. Digital signature. A Class 3 Digital Signature Certificate for each proposed director and each subscriber to the memorandum. Every form is signed digitally.

Step 2. Director Identification Number. A DIN for each proposed director. It is applied for inside SPICe+ Part B for up to three directors who do not have one; anybody else applies separately in Form DIR-3.

Step 3. SPICe+ Part A, the name. Reserve the name, proposing up to two, subject to the section 4 rules: not identical with or too nearly resembling an existing company or a registered trade mark, and not undesirable. The name of a private limited company must end with "Private Limited".

Step 4. SPICe+ Part B, everything else. In one form:

• the capital structure and the subscription;
• the registered office address, with its proof;
• the subscribers and directors, with their particulars, identity proof and interests in other firms and bodies corporate;
• the applications for PAN and TAN;
• the applications for EPFO and ESIC registration;
• the application for profession tax registration, for a company registered in Maharashtra;
• the opening of a bank account;
• and the application for GSTIN, if opted for.

Step 5. The linked forms, filed along with SPICe+:

Step 6. The professional's declaration under section 7(1)(b), by an advocate, chartered accountant, cost accountant or company secretary in practice engaged in the formation, and by a person named in the articles as a director, manager or secretary.

Step 7. Pay the fee and the stamp duty. The fee depends on the authorised capital, and the stamp duty on the memorandum and articles is a State charge, collected through the same form.

Step 8. The Registrar registers. Section 7(2) requires him to register the documents and issue a certificate of incorporation.

Step 9. The certificate and the CIN. Section 7(3) requires the Registrar to allot a Corporate Identity Number from the date mentioned in the certificate. PAN and TAN are printed on the certificate itself.