Exemption under section 80G gives rebate to a donor on the amount he donates to an organization that has 80G certificate. If the public charitable organization (NGO) has 80G certificate then the donors of that organization would not need to pay tax on the 50% of the donated amount. Exemption under section 80G is applied for on a form called 10G. This form can be downloaded from the Income Tax department’s website. Income tax department issues 80G certificate only for a specific period (usually 1-3 years). After expiry, 80G exemption must be reapplied for and renewed. Update (June 2014): Now Income Tax department is issuing 80G certificate for lifetime. You would no longer need to get it renewed. There are a few conditions that must to be fulfilled if you want to apply for exemption under the section 80G:
NGO should not have any income which is not eligible for exemption. For example, business income. If the NGO has business income then it should maintain separate books of accounts and should not divert donations received for the purpose of such business. Bylaws or objectives of the NGOs should not contain any provision for spending the income or assets of the NGO for purposes other than the charitable objectives mentioned in the Trust Deed or Rules of Association. NGO should not be working for the benefit of particular religious community or caste. NGO should maintain regular accounts of its receipts & expenditures. NGO is properly registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860, Indian Trusts Act 1882 or under any corresponding law or is registered under the Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956. Trustees or governing body members are not drawing any undue benefits from NGO funds.
Dully filled in Form – 10G for registration u/s 80G registration; Registration Certificate and MOA /Trust Deed (two copies – self attested by NGO head); NOC from landlord (where registered office is situated); Copy of PAN card of NGO; Electricity Bill / House tax Receipt / Water Bill (photocopy); Evidence of welfare activities carried out & Progress Report since inception or last 3 years; Books of Accounts, Balance Sheet & ITR (if any), since inception or last 3years; List of donors along with their address and PAN; List of governing body I board of trustees members with their contact details; Original RC and MOA /Trust Deed for verification; Authority letter in favor of NGO Factory; Any other document I affidavit / undertaking I information asked by the Income Tax department
Exemption certificate u/s 80G can be applied for just after the registration of NGO is completed. Exemption under section 80G can be applied for at the office of Commissioner of Income-tax (Exemption) having jurisdiction over the institution. I hope it was useful information for you. Please feel free to ask if you have any questions. Thank you for using TechWelkin. What if initially the trust is only collecting money till it reaches a corpus fund target post after which it intends to start the charity activities with only the interest income on investment activities of the corpus fund. Even then is an audit required? In such cases the bank statements will themselves serve as proof till the corpus fund target is reached. First of many thanks to provides wonderful articles. I just got to know about your blog on landing on this article . As I did not post a query on that so I am posting here. One of my friend registered a Society(NGO) with 7 board members and he got the certificate for the same. Now He want to include my name as additional board member. So What to do for this? There is need to make MOA & RR again with 8 members this time. Whats the process to add the name? Thanks Purpose of our trust is to spread the awareness of a meditation technique for children and adults , which helps them to alleviate mental sufferring and gain mental health and peace. The meditation technique is taught for free. As a part of our awareness activity, we write and publish newsletters and books, which we sell to refurbish our publication costs for current and future publications. These publications are purely for the purpose of the trust, which is to spread the benefits of meditation to people in their lives and reduce their sufferring through meditation courses which are given for free. Does our book sales as a part of our trust activities , inhibit our eligibility for 80G ? You are really doing a great job.. thanks for your efforts and time. Well, recently we added a new trustee who’s a qualified CA.. can he audit and file our IT returns for our trust.. even though he’s trustee of our organistion? Some friends and I have formed a network of parents of children with special needs. We have been organizing various activities for the parents and children. Now we are planning to formalize it by forming a trust or a society, and apply for 80G and 12A. My query: Will a trust be allowed to charge for some of its activities? For example, we organize picnics and other outings for the children and the cost is shared between all the parents. Can we continue to do so, or does this violate any IT norm? There is no profit intention, only to recoup the costs. Look forward to your response, and keep up the good work!
- Do i need to Tax filing for 2014 / 2015 year? 2) Do i need to provide receipt for Trustee member’s donation amount also? Do i need to submit Tax filing for 2014/2015? Have you published any article on how to register for a not for profit company/organisation? I stay in Canada and its easy for me to get donations for my Foundation here.I have registered NGO as a trust this year, What all steps I will require to receive donations legally from USA and Canada? Is it just FCRA registration or still I will need 80G and 12A certificate? Other thing is We use to work for this cause from last 10 year but never got it registered until this year so we have all proofs,receipt ,will it help us to get FCRA/80G/12A registration or we have to wait three more years? Thank you so much for your great work!!! Thank you for the informative article. I work with an IT firm. We have been doing CSR activities but not in a very structured manner as of now. We recently have established a separate entity as a Foundation for our organization. We wanted to run a payroll program for employees of our organization who are willing to donate in the projects the organization is supporting. We wanted to give the employees tax exemption benefits to the donation they make even if it is as low as rs 100/-. So my question is do we need to register out foundation as a trust or a society? Also, how important is it to register our foundation as a trust or society for carrying out other CSR activities or transactions. Thanks Thanks…. If yes, how much does it cost to get/change 12A and 80G certificate? Once an NGO has obtained 80G and 12A registration, does it need to re-apply/re-register for 80G in case it changes its name? Actually we don’t have Pan Card and Bank Account for the Society till now. We are trying to change the address from President to Secretary Address using Mee Seva – Telangana. But they are rejected due to By-Laws and other documents. And we want to change the Members in the Society as well. Please tell me the procedure to change Society Address and Members modification in the Society. And we need 80G and 12A for the Society. We are doing so many Social Service Programs till date.. Kindly give the guidelines to continue for the Society… Good job on the article and diligent efforts to reply to all comments. My question is different than those already asked. The objectives of the trust that I intend to register is to promote art, culture and education, with none of the trustees intending to make any profits. Will this fall into the category of charitable trust or NGO? Will 80 G/12 A exemptions apply for the promotion of art and culture? If any and all the proceeds from sale of music CDs are accounted for the trust, will it be considered as profit-making organization? I am in the process of starting a company. I need your input. – What is the difference between Foundation and Trust? Hope you are aware of Murugappa group. I would like to start a business like that under foundation. Would it be possible? I want to do some social work under foundation name with my part of the salary I earn from IT work. This foundation can accept donations from people for social work. In this case, what is your suggestion? Can it have tax relief? If I run a business (some manufacturing work) under foundation then do I need to register the manufacturing company as a private limited or it is fine to register as trademark? BTW, Your article is very clean and understandable. Thank you so much. I am planning to register a trust and I am in the process of preparing the trust deed. What are the next steps and what is the order that needs to be followed?
- Register the trust 2. Open a bank account for the trust 3. Apply PAN for the trust 4. Apply for tax exemptions under Section 12A and 80G 4. Apply for FCRA clearance Let me know if this is the right order. Thanks I also have another question on Step 1. Register the Trust A) To register a trust, first i need to create and register a trust deed B) Use the trust deed to register a trust along with covering letter, Application form (Schedule II under rule 6), court fee stamp of Rs 2 affixed on application form, consent letter of Trustees. Is this right? Also is there a format for consent letter for Trustees? if so, can you share the same with me? Thanks. I need to change the registered address of a trust as mentioned in the 80G certificate. How should I go about this ? Is there any specific form to be filled in ? Any documents to be attached ? Thanks and all the best for the efforts you put in making others life easy. Anuradha We have a society running since 2000 and is a non profitable society which works for the welfare of the people, awareness and education programm in Telemedicine. And is registerd as Telemedicine Society of India under socities registration act 21 of 1860. How we can get the 80 G certificate and 135 certificate i.e; CSR ( Corporate Social Responsibility). I Have registered my NGO section 8 company in December 2014 . so can I apply for 80 G , 12 A and what is the document required fro both certification . Please suggest me i register my ngo under society act. but im nt maintained bookkeeping and other record last 4 year’s. bt nw i wany to maintain it and apply for 80g so wht i do please quick reply thanks I want 80G Certificate from ito do I first need to take 12A certificate and then apply for 80G or simultaneously both can be done If yes do I need to do documentation twice Thanks for the information. 1,Please let me know what are the registrations required other 10A and 80g for smooth running of trust. 2,Does the trust need to collect service tax for the fees collected in the educational institution run by trust 3,Can a trustee be removed from trust if he is not actively participating in trust activities 4,is a chairman and vice chairman mandatory for trust,if so is it mandatory that the vice chairman and chairman should be elected from trustees Very informative article. I had a quick question. If I donate money to a charity that is 80G registered, what document will they give me (and what stamps should it have) so that I can claim the tax relief when I file my tax returns? Just want to know what it looks like from the donor’s side. Thanks! Karthik My question: What is the maintenance work required for a trust? In other words, after the trust has been registered, and I’ve obtained the exemption certificates, what procedures do I need to follow to ensure the validity of all the certificates? I understand that yearly IT returns & audits are necessary, could you explain these and any other requirements? step 1 – signed trust deed on non judicial stamp paper step 2 – fill form 10A step 3 – fill form 10G Is trust established at step 1 itself? At what stage can I open a bank account? Do I need a PAN for the trust? Form 10A asks for copy of accounts? How do I provide that upfront? What is the fee required to pay for the certificate? Is there any specific criteria for members in the ngo that should be a problem with the procurement of the certificate?
