The first thing you must understand is that trusts are of two types: private and public charitable trusts. Indian Trusts Act 1882 covers only private trusts and it specifically excludes public charitable trusts from its ambit. Most people think that the Indian Trusts Act 1882 applies to public charitable trusts as well. But that is wrong. In some states, public charitable trusts are governed by Bombay Public Trusts Act 1950. But in most states of India, there is no Act for governing charitable trusts. Both Bombay Public Trusts Act 1950 and Section 13 of Income Tax Act state that the trustees can draw a “reasonable” compensation from the trust fund for the services they provide to the trust. Please note that being a trustee itself is not considered a service. So, lets try to understand what could be a defined as a service. SEE ALSO: Can an NRI Become a Trustee? SEE ALSO: Can a government employee become a Trustee? Lets assume, in a charitable trust, one of the trustees is a qualified Chartered Accountant –and if he is managing the trust’s accounts. In such a case he is eligible for a reasonable compensation for his CA work because his work is saving the Trust from paying another CA’s fee. “Reasonable” means that the compensation must not be higher than the prevailing average market rate. I would suggest that such a compensation should actually be a notch below the average (after all you’re supposed to be doing charitable work -so it’s better to put the least possible burden on Trust Funds) If one or more trustees are taking unreasonable benefits from the Trust Fund –the Income Tax Department may refuse/revoke the allotment of tax exemptions under section 12A and 80G. If that happens all the donations/earnings acquired by the Trust shall become taxable. For more information, you should contact the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) who has jurisdiction over your area. I hope this clarified the issue of whether a trust can take salary, compensation or remuneration from the Trust Fund. Thanks for the article. Our NGO was registered under societies registration act 35 of 2001. Can we hire employees with reasonable compensation for our operations which are no where related to the board duties? and is there any insurance policy for the NGO employees? thanking you. Dr Satya Myself Hishitha from Bangalore, India. I am planning to start up my own Wildlife NGO and willing to continue my career as a full time worker and dedicate rest of my life in the same NGO. for I am no more will be working in other companies/job. I will be conducting training’s for the orphan Children by providing Power point Presentations, videos, and putting up some awareness posters and slogans and meeting up the corporate clients all over India and other countries clients to generate funds to the organization. In particularly, also I will be flying to other countries to raise funds for the NGO and to get wildlife training which in turn benefits the NGO to implement new ideas and concepts. My question to you is simple, for all the above work which I will be delicately involving my full time and energy to run the NGO, will I be getting some reasonable amount/remuneration for all my service provided to the NGO. Requesting you to kindly clarify my doubts. Thanking you in anticipation, Hishitha J Could you please guide me? Regards Uma Shukla In which section of BPT or any court order or authorized document available about it Please guide/ provide more details. Thanks Ravindra M. 9689364880
