80-g certificate formalities

To get your society registered U/s 80G, You have to apply in form no. 10G.

• Form No. 10G requires the following important information:-
• Name and Address of the Institution.
• Name and Address of the office bearers.
• Income tax Particulars.
• Amount of surplus and mode of their investments.

This application should be accomplished with the following documents:-

• Copy of the registration granted U/s 12A or copy of notification issued U/s 10(23) or 12(23C) if any.
• A note on the activities of the institution for the last three years.
• Copy of the audited accounts for the Past three years.
• Memorandum and Rules & Regulations.
• Copy of the registration Certificate of the society.

What happens after submission of your application

It is normally practice that after submission of the above form with the Commissioner of Income Tax, the form is sent by him to your Assessing Officer. He in terms depute an Inspector to visit your place to inspect your books of accounts and other relevant details. Based on such an inspection, a report is sent to the Commissioner by the Assessing Officer. This report is the most important element in the entire process. After submission of such inspection report, an order is received from the Commissioner granting the registration U/s 80G. In case, the Income Tax Authority decides not to allow registration of your Society a notice will be sent indicating the intention of the department and on receipt of which you can submit your comments or objections.

This registration is normally allowed for a period of two to three years. It has been further provided that commissioner will make his decisions within six months of the submission of application.

OBLIGATION AFTER REGISTRATION:

Once your society is registered, there are certain obligations, which is required to be followed.This registration enables donors of your society, a deduction on the amount donated by them to your society. To enable them to claim such exemption, the receipt issued by you should contain reference of approval commissioner order U/s 80G and preferably a copy of such approval should be given to the donors. The society should also submit its regular Income Tax Return in time even though, it is NIL.

RENEWAL OF APPROVAL

As mentioned earlier approval U/S 80G is allowed for a specific period of time. Hence, it is essential that you submit a fresh application requesting for renewal of such approval. Such renewal application should be made at least six months before the expiry of the current approval. This will ensure that there is no disruption in the availability of exemption.

OBLIGATION OR CAUTION BY DONORS:

In case, a donor is giving donation to a society which claim that it is registered U/s 80G, the donors should ensure that:

• He gets a proper receipt for his donation.
• Such receipt indicates that this society is registered U/s 80G and reference number of approval with date of expiry is mentioned on the receipt.
• He should try to obtain a copy of the approval from the society.

In case, these documents are not submitted by him along with the Income Tax Return, his claim of deduction may not be entertained by the Income Tax Department.