CSR-2: corporate social responsibility reporting — workflow

Define the obligation before assigning the task

The company reports CSR applicability, adjusted profits, obligation, project expenditure, set-offs and transfers. A payment to a charity is not automatically eligible CSR expenditure.

CSR-2 substituted effective 14 July 2025; FY2025–26 worked return fields.

Related guide: Form reference and completed fields

Walk the event through the calendar

A fictional eligible company has three preceding-year section 135 net profits of ₹6 crore, ₹9 crore and ₹12 crore. It has no surplus or set-off, spends ₹15 lakh on a non-ongoing education project and ₹75,000 on administration. The ₹2.25 lakh non-ongoing shortfall is transferred to a Schedule VII fund on 20 September 2026.

1. Establish the event and evidence

Recompute section 198 profits and Rule 2(1)(h) adjustments; apply the 2% average, surplus and available set-off separately.

2. Prepare the correct document

Reconcile each eligible project, administrative ceiling and any impact-assessment branch before finalising total spend.

3. Submit and follow through

Transfer a non-ongoing shortfall within six months of FY end; an ongoing-project shortfall instead goes to the Unspent CSR Account within 30 days. Update the return to the actual corrected expenditure and transfer, then retain bank proof.

Record the controls and reconcile the outcome

• (₹6 crore + ₹9 crore + ₹12 crore)/3 = ₹9 crore; 2% = ₹18 lakh. ₹15 lakh project plus ₹75,000 administration = ₹15.75 lakh; shortfall = ₹2.25 lakh.
• Administration ₹75,000 is below 5% of total eligible expenditure ₹15,75,000 (₹78,750). A ₹1 lakh administration draft would breach the ceiling and cannot be used unchanged.
• The assumed 20 September transfer precedes 30 September 2026, six months after year end; an ongoing project would use the distinct 30-day Unspent CSR Account route.

Keep the source and example with the working papers

This is the same form, version and scenario as the linked detailed reference. The full field table is maintained there; this page concentrates on responsibilities, sequencing and evidence. No sample creates a DSC, professional certification, approval or acknowledgement. It is a static educational illustration with deliberately invalid synthetic identifiers.

Primary authorities and exact locators

• G.S.R.357(E), physical PDF pp195–202, especially fields 5–8 pp196–198; section 135(5)–(6).
• Companies Act, 2013: the sections expressly identified in the form and explanatory workflow; source copy, read with the specific later rules linked here.
• CSR Policy Rules 7(1): administrative overheads no more than 5% of total CSR expenditure; (2)–(3) surplus/set-off distinction.

Close the task using the actual result

The assumed 20 September transfer precedes 30 September 2026, six months after year end; an ongoing project would use the distinct 30-day Unspent CSR Account route.

Retain the actual submitted or issued version together with the source records described above. If the authority requests a correction or a required approval has not arrived, preserve that status and the response trail; a saved draft is not evidence of completion.