ISLAMABAD: The SECP, with the aim of bringing the non-corporate businesses into the corporate fold, as well to incentivise existing companies, has substantially decreased the fee for the formation of a company as well for the filing of returns being charged under Sixth Schedule to the Companies Ordinance, 1984, effective 31st May 2016. Through the SRO, notifying the said rationalization, the SECP has made significant reduction in the first slab of the capital fee for new incorporation cases. They are priced at Rs. 1,000 for online and Rs. 2,000 for offline submission, down from Rs. 2,500 and 5,000 respectively, translating into 60% reduction. Besides, some of the slabs of the capital fee have also been rationalised. SECP has also made significant reduction in filing fee for returns – particularly for small sized entities – by introducing capital based filing fee starting from as low as Rs. 250 for online and Rs. 500 for offline submission replacing the existing structure of fixed filing fee of Rs. 600 and Rs. 1500, respectively. In order to further incentivise the corporate sector, the SECP will now provide a set of certified copies of all incorporation documents free of cost on registration. Similarly, certified copies of all the statutory returns will be provided free of cost without any formal application. The aforementioned measures have been taken by the SECP with an aim to not only reduce the overall cost of starting a business but also to enhance the rate of statutory compliance by the companies regulated by it, so as to encourage corporatisation.