Charitable Trusts Must Register With Income-Tax Dept, Says Tax Official
"Non-profit organisations that are duly approved by the income-tax department can issue Section 80G certificates to donors": Reports
HYDERABAD: The income-tax department (I-T) on Friday said that public charitable trusts and societies that seek to promote charitable activities were mandatorily required to obtain its registration. Educational and medical institutions that are solely involved in charitable activities and wish to claim tax exemptions were also required to obtain this registration under the relevant exemption provisions.
B. Balakrishna, the commissioner of income-tax (exemptions), Hyderabad, stated that the exemption granted would be subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions, such as maintenance of books of account and essential records, auditing of these accounts, filing of the audit report and filing of the statement of accumulation (or application of income). It was also ensured that investments are maintained only in specified modes and forms as prescribed by the Act. These reports and the return of income must be filed before the prescribed due dates every year.
"Non-profit organisations that are duly approved by the income-tax department can issue Section 80G certificates to donors. The I-T department introduced many changes to the procedures and laws, effective April 1, 2021, to leverage technology, such as the online issue of provisional registration, regular registration, and re-registrations.”
He said educational institutions, which are substantially supported by the government and private educational institutions where the annual gross receipts are below `5 crores per annum, are not required to obtain registration. However, they are required to file their returns of income every year. Non-profit organisations (NPOs) approved under Section 80G will file the annual statement on or before May 31 in the following year; only then are the donors eligible to claim their donations as a deduction from their taxable income.
The income-tax commissioner further stated that the NPOs were advised to utilise the funds only for the objectives as mentioned in the original registration deed, and not for any other purposes. In case a specific violation is noticed in the conduct of the NPO, the I-T commissioner (exemptions) can cancel the entity's registration and enforce taxation.
The income-tax department's exemptions charge for the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Region is headed by the commissioner of income-tax (exemptions) at Aayakar Bhavan, Basheerbagh, Hyderabad.
The I-T department is planning to organise a Chartered Accountant (CA) outreach programme with the stakeholders in the light of new I-T Act, 2025, which will be effective April 1, 2026. The aim is to create sufficient awareness for them. It will be conducted in different cities in both Telugu states.
The primary suggestion for employees in the infotech sector seeking a quick tax refund was to focus on accuracy and timely e-verification of their return and to make only genuine claims. Since salaried income is largely captured through Form 16, their returns are naturally simpler and can be processed within a few days if there are no data discrepancies.
