Published 19 October 2026
A trust, society or section 8 company that does charitable work is not exempt from income-tax because its work is charitable. It is exempt because it holds a registration, and the registration runs out. Under the present scheme no charity is registered for good. It is registered provisionally for three years, then regularly for five (or ten), and then it applies again. Each application has its own window, and missing a window can do more than cost the exemption for a year: the Act can treat the charity as having left the regime and tax the value of its net assets. This guide sets out the registration cycle under both Acts as it stands on 19 October 2026, with the forms, the time limits and what the Commissioner does with the application.
Which Act governs which year
The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from 1 April 2026 (tax year 2026-27 onwards), with the Income-tax Rules, 2026. Under section 536(2) of the 2025 Act, the 1961 Act continues to govern proceedings for any tax year beginning before 1 April 2026. For a charity, that means:
- Financial year 2025-26 (assessment year 2026-27) and earlier: the exemption is claimed under sections 11 and 12 of the 1961 Act, on the strength of registration under section 12A read with section 12AB, or approval under section 10(23C).
- Tax year 2026-27 onwards: the charity is a “registered non-profit organisation” under Part B of Chapter XVII of the 2025 Act (sections 332 to 355; section 263 of that Act calls it Chapter XVII-B). Registration is under section 332.
An existing registration does not have to be obtained again. Section 536(2)(j) continues any approval, recognition or order made under the 1961 Act, so far as it is consistent with the 2025 Act, as if made under the corresponding provision. Section 355 does the same work directly: “registration” includes provisional registration, provisional approval or approval under section 10(23C) or section 12AB(1) of the 1961 Act (clause (f)); a “registered non-profit organisation” is any person with a valid, uncancelled registration under any “specified provision” (clause (g)); and the specified provisions are sections 12A, 12AA, 12AB and 10(23C) of the 1961 Act and section 332 (clause (m)). A trust registered under section 12AB until 31 March 2028 is therefore a registered non-profit organisation until that date, and its renewal falls under section 332.
How the 1961 provisions map to the 2025 Act
Every counterpart below was read from the text of the 2025 Act as amended by the Finance Act, 2026.
| 1961 Act | Subject | 2025 Act |
|---|---|---|
| s.12A(1)(ac), s.12AB(1) to (3) | Application for and grant of registration | s.332 |
| s.10(23C)(iv), (v), (vi), (via) and its provisos | Approval of funds, religious trusts, universities and hospitals | No separate route; such approvals are “registration” under s.355(f) and are renewed under s.332 |
| s.11(7), first and second provisos | Registration becoming inoperative on another exemption | s.333 |
| s.11, s.12 | Exemption of income applied, and of voluntary contributions | ss.334 to 343 |
| s.12A(1)(b), (ba) | Books, audit, return | ss.347, 348, 349 |
| s.12AB(4), (5) | Cancellation for specified violations | s.351 |
| s.12AC | Merger of registered charities | s.354A (inserted by the Finance Act, 2026) |
| s.13 | Benefit to related persons and other forfeitures | s.337 (Table: Sl. No. 2), s.351, s.355(h) |
| s.115BBC | Anonymous donations | s.337 (Table: Sl. No. 1), taxed under s.334(1)(a) |
| s.115BBI | Specified income at 30 per cent | ss.334(1)(a) and 337 |
| ss.115TD to 115TF | Tax on accreted income | s.352 |
| s.80G(5) | Approval for donors’ deduction | s.354 (deduction in s.133(1)(b)(ii)) |
The 10(23C) route was already closing under the 1961 Act. The Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024 inserted the words “before the 1st day of October, 2024” into the first and second provisos to section 10(23C), so no fresh application for approval under those sub-clauses could be made after 30 September 2024. From 1 October 2024 the same Act extended section 12A(1)(ac)(ii) and (iii) to a fund or institution approved under section 10(23C), so its renewal moved to the section 12A route.
Who can apply, and on what conditions
Section 332(1) lists the applicants: a public trust; a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 or any law in force in India; a section 8 company (or a section 25 company under the 1956 Act); a university established by law or an educational institution affiliated to it or recognised by Government; an institution financed wholly or in part by Government or a local authority; certain persons in the Schedules; and any other person the Board notifies.
Section 332(2) makes two conditions of eligibility. The applicant must be constituted, registered or incorporated in India for one or more charitable purposes as defined in section 2(23), or for public religious purposes. And its properties must be held for the benefit of the general public under an irrevocable trust, wholly for charitable or religious purposes in India (or partly, if it was created before the 1961 Act came into force). The definition in section 2(23) lists relief of the poor, education, yoga, medical relief, preservation of environment, preservation of monuments and “the advancement of any other object of general public utility”. The restriction on commercial activity that the 1961 Act placed in the proviso to section 2(15) now sits in section 346; it is covered in the guide on applying and accumulating a trust’s income.
The registration cycle under the 2025 Act
The Table in section 332(3) fixes, for seven cases, when the application must be made, when the Commissioner must decide it, and how long the registration lasts.
| Case (s.332(3) Table) | Apply | Order due | Valid for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Activities not commenced; never registered under any specified provision | At any time during the tax year from which registration is sought | One month from the end of the month of application | Three tax years from the tax year of application |
| 2. Activities commenced; never registered | At any time during the tax year from which registration is sought | Six months from the end of the quarter of application | Five tax years from the tax year of application |
| 3. Provisionally registered; activities have commenced | Within six months of commencement of activities | Six months from the end of the quarter | Five tax years from the tax year of application |
| 4. Provisional registration expiring; activities not commenced | At least six months before expiry | Six months from the end of the quarter | Five tax years following the tax year of application |
| 5. Regular registration expiring | At least six months before expiry | Six months from the end of the quarter | Five tax years following the tax year of application |
| 6. Registration inoperative under s.333 | At any time during the tax year from which it is to be made operative | Six months from the end of the quarter | Five tax years from the tax year of application |
| 7. Objects modified so that they no longer conform to the conditions of registration | Within thirty days of the modification | Six months from the end of the quarter | Five tax years from the commencement of the tax year of application |
Three provisions qualify the table.
- Ten years for smaller charities. Under section 332(5), for cases 3 to 7, where total income without the exemption did not exceed five crore rupees in each of the two tax years preceding the year of application, “five years” in column E is read as “ten years”. The 1961 Act has the same rule in the proviso to section 12AB(1), inserted by the Finance Act, 2025 from 1 April 2025, for applications under section 12A(1)(ac)(i) to (v).
- Condonation. Under section 332(4), the Commissioner may condone a late application if there was reasonable cause, and it is then treated as made in time. The 1961 Act has the equivalent proviso to section 12A(1)(ac), inserted from 1 October 2024.
- The penalty for missing a renewal. Section 332(6) provides that if an application in case 3, 4, 5 or 7 is not made in time and the delay is not condoned, the person “shall be liable to pay tax on accreted income under section 352”. The same consequence follows under the 1961 Act from section 115TD(3)(iii). Accreted income is explained in the guide on cancellation and accreted income.
How the timing differs from the 1961 Act
Under section 12A(1)(ac)(vi)(A) of the 1961 Act, a new trust applies for provisional registration “at least one month prior to the commencement of the previous year” from which registration is sought, and section 12AB(1)© grants it for three years from that assessment year. Section 12A(1)(ac)(iii) requires the regular application “at least six months prior to expiry of period of the provisional registration or within six months of commencement of its activities, whichever is earlier”. Section 12A(2) makes a registration on a fresh application effective from the assessment year following the financial year of application. The 2025 Act lets the case 1 and case 2 applications be made during the tax year itself, and the registration runs from the tax year in which the application is made. Case 3 is tied only to commencement of activities, and the “whichever is earlier” limb has gone; a provisionally registered charity whose activities have not begun uses case 4.
The forms and where they go
Rule 181 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 provides one common application for registration under section 332 and approval under section 354 (the 80G-type approval, covered in the next guide).
| Application | 1962 Rules | 2026 Rules | Goes to | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provisional registration or approval (case 1) | Form 10A | Form No. 104 | Commissioner of Income Tax (CPC) | Form No. 106, with a 16-digit Unique Registration Number |
| Regular registration, renewal, cases 2 to 7 | Form 10AB | Form No. 105 | Principal Commissioner or Commissioner with jurisdiction | Form No. 107 |
Under the 1962 Rules, Forms 10A and 10AB are prescribed by rule 17A (registration under section 12A), rule 11AA (approval under section 80G) and, for applications made before 1 October 2024, rule 2C (section 10(23C)). Notification No. 111/2024 dated 15 October 2024, effective from 1 October 2024, removed rule 2C from the headings of both forms and the 10(23C) codes from them.
Rule 181 adds procedure the Act does not state.
- A Form No. 104 is “non est” if the activities have already commenced or the applicant has already been registered under any specified provision (sub-rule (5)). A charity that has started work applies in Form No. 105 under case 2.
- A provisional registration granted by the CPC can be cancelled by the jurisdictional Commissioner, after a hearing, if Form No. 104 contained false or incorrect information or was not properly verified; it is then treated as never granted (sub-rules (6) and (7)).
- An applicant that has not claimed the exemption in any return may surrender a provisional registration, with an undertaking not to claim it later; it is then deemed never granted (sub-rules (8) and (9)).
- An application may be withdrawn within seven days of filing (sub-rule (11)).
- Where Form No. 107 rejects or cancels because documents were not produced, the hearing was not availed, or the trust deed contained ineligible terms (since modified), the applicant may re-apply once in Form No. 105 within one month from the end of the month of the order, on an undertaking not to appeal (sub-rules (12) and (13)).
- A wrong section code or nature of activity in Form No. 105 can be corrected on request before the order is passed (sub-rule (15)).
What the Commissioner examines
For cases 2 to 7, section 332(7) requires the Commissioner to call for documents or information or make inquiries “in order to satisfy himself about the genuineness of activities, and the compliance of such requirements of any other law as are material for the purpose of achieving its objects”. If satisfied, he grants registration. If not, after a reasonable opportunity of being heard, he rejects the application in cases 2 and 6, and in cases 3, 4, 5 and 7 he rejects it “and also cancel[s] the registration”. A renewal that fails therefore ends the existing registration as well. For case 1, section 332(8) says simply that the Commissioner “shall grant provisional registration”. The order is appealable to the Tribunal under section 362(1)(b)(i); see the guide on appealing to the ITAT.
Two Supreme Court decisions frame the inquiry.
In Ananda Social and Educational Trust v. CIT (Supreme Court, 19 February 2020), the lead matter was a Revenue appeal against a Delhi High Court judgment. A society formed on 30 May 2008 applied for registration under section 12AA on 10 July 2008, before it had undertaken any activity. The Commissioner refused because there were no activities whose genuineness he could test. The Court held that, since section 12AA “pertains to the registration of the Trust and not to assess of what a trust has actually done”, the term “activities” includes “proposed activities”. It contrasted cancellation, where the Commissioner must find that activities actually carried on are not genuine, and it disapproved the contrary Kerala High Court view in Self Employers Service Society. The present law builds that distinction into the statute: a charity with no activities takes provisional registration under case 1 without inquiry, and its actual activities are examined when it applies under case 3.
In New Noble Educational Society v. Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Supreme Court, 19 October 2022), educational societies in Andhra Pradesh were refused approval under section 10(23C)(vi), partly because their objects were not solely educational and partly because they were not registered under the State’s charities law. The Court held that “solely” means all the objects must relate to education, that the approving authority is “free to call for the audited accounts or other such documents” and is not confined to the objects, and that where registration under a State or local law is obligatory, the institution must comply with it. It overruled American Hotel and Queen’s Educational Society on the meaning of “solely” and directed that its ruling operate prospectively. The “compliance of such requirements of any other law” limb in section 332(7) reflects the same idea.
What to have ready
- The instrument of creation (trust deed, memorandum and rules, or memorandum and articles), and the registration certificate with the Registrar of Public Trusts, Societies or Companies. The 1962 Rules’ Form 10A notes list these as self-certified copies, and the 2026 forms require the documents and undertakings “as specified in the Form” (rule 181(2)).
- Any registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.
- Where the charity has existed for earlier years, annual accounts for up to three preceding years, and for a business undertaking held under trust, its accounts and audit report.
- Any earlier order rejecting registration or approval.
- A note of activities and of compliance with State or local laws that apply to the charity’s objects.
- The PAN of the applicant and the details of the person who will verify the form.
- For a renewal, the existing registration order and its expiry date, and the total income figures for the two preceding years (to see whether the ten-year validity applies).
Signing and verification
Under rule 181(3), the application is filed electronically, under digital signature if the applicant’s return must be filed under digital signature, and otherwise through an electronic verification code. It is verified by the person authorised to verify the return under section 265: for a company, its managing director (or a director); for an association, a member or its principal officer; for any other person, the person himself or a person competent to act on his behalf.
What can be changed after filing
A Form No. 105 can be corrected for section code or nature of activity before the order, or withdrawn within seven days. After an adverse order, the one-time re-application route in rule 181(12) is available only on an undertaking not to appeal. A later change in the objects is not a correction: it is case 7, with a thirty-day window, and a failure to apply exposes the charity to tax on accreted income under section 352(4) (Table: Sl. Nos. 3 to 5).
The procedure in order
- Identify the governing Act: an existing 12AB or 10(23C) registration continues as a registration under the 2025 Act until it expires.
- Identify the case in the section 332(3) Table, and diarise its window, counting six months back from expiry for a renewal.
- File Form No. 104 (case 1) with the CPC, or Form No. 105 (cases 2 to 7) with the jurisdictional Commissioner, with the documents the form requires, verified under rule 181(3).
- Answer the Commissioner’s requisitions under section 332(7); the order is due within one month (case 1) or six months from the end of the quarter (other cases).
- On provisional registration, track the date on which activities commence: the case 3 application is due within six months of it.
- Diarise the renewal at least six months before expiry, and apply within thirty days of any change in objects.
- If the order is adverse, choose between re-application under rule 181(12) and an appeal to the Tribunal under section 362.
The next guide covers approval for donors’ deduction, and the annual donation statement and donor certificates in Forms 10BD and 10BE and their 2026 counterparts.