80G and its PRIVILEGES TO THE DONORS

What is 80G?
People know that an NGO can avail income tax exemption by getting itself registered and complying with certain other formalities, but such registration does not provide any benefit to the persons making donations. The Income Tax Act has certain provisions which offer tax benefits to the "donors". All NGO's should avail the advantage of these provisions to attract potential donors. Section 80G is one of such sections.

Registration Under Section 80G
If an NGO gets itself registered under section 80G then the person or the organisation making a donation to the NGO will get a deduction of 50% from his/its taxable income. The NGO has to apply in Form No. 10G As per Annexure - 29 to the Commissioner of Income Tax for such registration. Normally this approval is granted for 2-3 years.
 
DOCUMENTS TO BE FILLED WITH FORM 10G
The application form should be sent in triplicate to the Commissioner of Income Tax along with the following documents :
 
Copy of income tax registration certificate.
Detail of activities since its inception or last three years whichever is less
Copies of audited accounts of the institution/NGO since its inception or last 3 years whichever is less.
 
Conditions To Be Fulfilled Under Section 80G
For approval under section 80G the following conditions are to be fulfilled :
The NGO should not have any income which are not exempted, such as 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.
The bylaws or objectives of the NGOs should not contain any provision for spending the income or assets of the NGO for purposes other than charitable.
The NGO is not working for the benefit of particular religious community or caste.
The NGO maintains regular accounts of its receipts & expenditures.
The NGO is properly registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860 or under any law corresponding to that act or is registered under section 25 of the Companies Act 1956.
 
EXTENT OF BENEFIT
There is ceiling limit up to which the benefit is allowable to the donor. If the amount of deduction to a charitable organisation or trust is more than 10% of the Gross Total Income computed under the Act (as reduced by income on which income-tax is not payable under any provision of this Act and by any amount in respect of which the assessee is entitled to a deduction under any other provision of this Chapter), then the amount in excess of 10% of Gross Total Income shall not qualify for deduction under section 80G.

In other words, while computing the total income of an assessee and for arriving at the deductible amount under section 80G, first the aggregate of the sums donated has to be found out. Then 50 per cent of such donations has to be found out and it should be limited to 10 per cent of the gross total income. If such amount is more than 10 per cent of the gross total income, the excess will have to be ignored.

INSPITE of all the contributions made to social causes, there is a huge gap between the demand of money from the needy and the amount donated by philanthropists. This probably, is the reason why the Government has given tax benefits on donations. The amount donated towards charity attracts deduction under section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Section 80G has been in the law book since financial year 1967-68 and it seems it’s here to stay. Several deductions have been swept away but the tax sop for donations appears to have survived the axe.
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There are thousands of trusts registered in India that claim to be engaged in charitable activities. Many of them are genuine but some are untrue. In order that only genuine trusts get the tax benefits, the Government has made it compulsory for all charitable trusts to register themselves with the Income Tax Department. And for this purpose the Government has made two types of registrations necessary u/s. 12A &  80G. Only if the trust follows the registration  12A, they will get the tax exemption certificate, which is popularly known as 80G certificate. The government periodically releases a list of approved charitable institutions and funds that are eligible to receive donations that qualify for deduction. The list includes trusts, societies and corporate bodies incorporated under Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956 as non-profit companies.