FICCI FLO, under the leadership of 43rd National President, Ms. Puja Garg, hosted an insightful, highly informative, and engaging webinar, titled “Why Startups & MSMEs Fail: Financial, Tax, and Compliance Mistakes Nobody Talks About,” under its MSME vertical, focused on teaching attendees about the overlooked challenges faced by women entrepreneurs that significantly impact the sustainability and growth of startups and MSMEs.
The session was graced by the presence of dynamic FLO National President Puja Garg and was led by Ruby Garg as Day Chair, along with Jyoti Jain as Co-Lead, with enthusiastic pan-India members. The session featured an esteemed panel of Speakers:
- CA Apoorva Kalra, Partner, Kalra Law Group
- CA Ritika Agarwal, Designated Partner, BAS & Co LLP & Co-Founder, Globitax Innovate Accountants LLC.
The webinar provided valuable insights into common financial, tax, and compliance pitfalls, along with practical guidance to help entrepreneurs build stronger, more resilient businesses. As a part of the MSME Assist Cell initiative, this webinar focused on equipping women with knowledge and skills to navigate complexities and scale with guidance.
Key Highlights and Lessons
- CA Ritika Agarwal led an informative session on tax planning for MSMEs. Attendees were introduced to crucial details about tax exemptions, compliance strategies, government taxation benefits, and DPIIT startup recognition.
- Choosing the right structure for MSMEs as per tax rate, compliance cost, and the nature of the business, such as sole proprietorship, partnership firm, LLP, private limited, and OPC.
- Availing income tax benefits for MSMEs as per investment and turnover.
- The importance of Udyam Registration and the wide-ranging benefits available to MSMEs.
- The need for financial clarity and structured planning for sustainable business growth.
- CA Apurva Kalra led an informative session on raising awareness about GST fraud and its penalties. She covered GST fundamentals for startups, including thresholds, registration mandates, hidden costs, invoice rules, income tax credit mechanisms, and return filing cycles.
- Ms. Kalra talked about the common GST registration mistakes made by MSMEs and startups, which lead to penalties. It includes incorrect entry of business details, threshold miscalculations, late return filing, misreporting for turnover and liability, and a mismatch in physical stock and stock in books.
- The prevention framework explained the suggested measures, such as using reliable software, strengthening internal checks, ensuring timely compliances, and filing accuracy, proper invoicing, double check registration details, and maintaining proper records.
- The importance of being self-reliant and maintaining strong control over the financial aspects of the business.
Impact & Outcome
Around 120 attendees participated in this webinar, gaining insights on tax planning and common mistakes like wrong tax return filing by MSMEs and startups in India. Overall, this webinar provided actionable solutions to the problems faced by women entrepreneurs while leading startups and MSMEs in India.