Society Registration

Society registration in India is governed by Society Registration Act 1860, a society can be formed at state level or it can be formed at multi-state level. A group of several individuals commonly name as association can join together to incorporate Society in India. Society Registration in India are commonly registered for the purpose of serving general public at large with the intention of charitable activity in the field of Education, Religion, Sports, Music, Art, Culture etc. It is not mandatory to register a society with in specific field, certain societies can also be registered for the benefit of its members, most common example of such society are Colony or Residential welfare society.

Society Registration Act 1860 is a central Act and this is adopted with some modification by respective State Governments. Registering a Society is a matter of State Government and hence the applicable Stamp Duty for registration is collected by State Government. The application for registering a society shall be made to specific state authority within whose jurisdiction the registered office of the society is located.

A society can be registered or can be unregistered; there is no penalty on non registration of Society with respective state authority. Difference between a registered society and unregistered society is, registered society execute its rules and bye-laws on legally executed stamp paper and pays stamp duty and get itself registered before the office of State Authority, the State Authority will grant a unique society registration number to such society, on the other hand unregistered society execute its rules and bye-laws on legally executed stamp paper and pays stamp duty but not got itself registered before State Authority.
For registration of society a minimum of 7 or more individuals are required, both Indian nationals and Foreign Nationals can become member of a society and register a society. For registering a society profit motive for personal use is prohibited.

First and foremost activity for registering a society is identification and finalization of proposed name of society. Proposed name of society should not be identical to any existing society and it does not resemble any State Government or Central Government and it comply with the provisions of Emblem & Names Act, 1950.

After name finalization of proposed society, there is need to draft a Memorandum of society covering the objective of the society along-with its bye-laws covering the regulation aspect of the society. This Memorandum together with the bye laws need to be signed by every member of the society on a legally executed stamp paper after payment of Stamp Duty to respective state Government duly notarized and witnessed by at-least 2 individuals not directly relative of the members of the society.

Post registration any member can join or leave the society, but a minimum of 7 individuals must be there during the existence of society. Post registration society shall be governed by its bye-laws, its meeting and its election shall be governed by the executed bye-laws. Post registration Society can amend and alter its bye-laws after getting consensus amongst its members.

We at ReturnFilings.Com will understand the purpose of your proposed set-up of Society Registration and thereafter will provide you analysis of registering covering almost all scenarios to carry out your activities effectively and efficiently. Based upon the Registration Certificate we need obtain a PAN (Permanent Account Number) in the name of registered society to carry out the activities. We at ReturnFilings.Com will apply for PAN on behalf of your registered society and thereafter provide registration under other regulatory requirement based upon the need of such registration i.e. GST, TAN etc.

Apart from above, even after obtaining registration under various laws, we at ReturnFilings.Com also fulfill various compliance on your behalf in order to ensure proper and smooth functioning of business and to avoid unnecessary interest or penalty for non-compliance. We at ReturnFilings.Com are determinate to provide end to end solution; our motto is you concentrate on your business while we at ReturnFilings.Com will take care of all your compliance need.