Last reviewed: 1 November 2026.
General information, not tax advice. Tax law for trusts turns on the exact wording of your trust deed and your approval order, and it changed substantially on 1 April 2026. Use this guide to ask better questions, and confirm every decision with your chartered accountant. Each fact below is linked to an official source at the end of the page.
Devotees often ask a temple office for an “80G receipt”. Whether you can give one depends on an approval many temples do not have — and, since 1 April 2026, on a new Income-tax Act with new section and form numbers. This guide covers both laws, the conditions that matter for religious trusts, what a receipt should show, and the annual filing that makes the donor’s deduction work.
The law changed on 1 April 2026
The Income-tax Act, 2025 replaced the Income-tax Act, 1961 from 1 April 2026, and the forms were renumbered. The ideas are the same; the numbers are not. The Income Tax Department’s form-mapping guide and its e-filing pages give these equivalents:
| What it is | Income-tax Act, 1961 | Income-tax Act, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| The trust’s own registration (exemption of its income) | Section 12A / 12AB; Forms 10A and 10AB | Section 332; Forms 104 (provisional) and 105 (regular) |
| Approval that lets donors claim a deduction | Section 80G(5); Forms 10A and 10AB | Section 354; Forms 104 (provisional) and 105 (regular) |
| The donor’s deduction | Section 80G | Section 133 |
| No deduction for cash above ₹2,000 | Section 80G(5D) | Section 133(5) |
| Donations to repair notified places of worship | Section 80G(2)(b) | Section 133(1)(b)(vi) |
| Annual statement of donations, filed by the trust | Form 10BD (rule 18AB) | Form 113 |
| Certificate of donation for each donor | Form 10BE | Form 114 |
Donations received up to 31 March 2026 fall under the 1961 Act and were due to be reported in Form 10BD by 31 May 2026. Donations received from 1 April 2026 fall in tax year 2026-27 and are reported in Form 113, due by 31 May 2027. The e-filing portal keeps the 1961-Act forms and the 2025-Act forms on separate tabs.
How approvals granted under the 1961 Act carry over, and until when, is a transition question to settle with your CA against your approval order and current CBDT guidance. We have not found an official clarification specific to 80G approvals, so we do not state one here.
Registration and 80G approval are different things
Temple trustees often treat “12A” and “80G” as one certificate. They are separate:
- Registration (12A/12AB, now section 332) concerns the trust’s own income. Section 11 of the 1961 Act exempts income from property held under trust for charitable or religious purposes, so a temple trust can be registered even if its only object is worship.
- 80G approval (section 80G(5), now section 354) concerns the donor. It lets people who give to the trust claim a deduction. The conditions are stricter, and religious purposes are where many temples fall short.
Both are time-limited. CBDT Circular 6 of 2023 describes provisional registration or approval as valid for up to three years and regular registration or approval for five years, with renewal to be applied for at least six months before expiry. Check the dates printed on your own orders and diarise the renewal.
Can a temple get 80G approval?
Often not, and it is better to know why before a devotee asks. Section 80G of the 1961 Act says that “charitable purpose” does not include any purpose the whole or substantially the whole of which is of a religious nature (Explanation 3), and that the institution must not be expressed to be for the benefit of any particular religious community or caste (sub-section (5)(iii)). A trust that exists only to conduct worship at a temple usually fails these tests.
There are two important exceptions:
- The 5% rule. Under section 80G(5B), an institution whose expenditure of a religious nature in a year does not exceed 5% of its total income for that year is still treated as eligible. The measure in the statute is total income, not total spending. A temple trust that also runs substantial non-religious charitable work, such as education or medical relief, and keeps religious spending within that limit can apply.
- Notified places of worship. Section 80G(2)(b) covers donations for the renovation or repair of a temple, mosque, gurdwara, church or other place that the Central Government has notified in the Official Gazette as being of historic, archaeological or artistic importance, or as a place of public worship of renown throughout a state or states. The 2025 Act continues this in section 133(1)(b)(vi). It applies to renovation and repair donations, not to general donations to the same temple.
| Your trust’s position | Can donors claim a deduction? |
|---|---|
| Registered (12AB / section 332), wholly religious objects, no 80G approval | No. The trust’s own income may be exempt, but donors get no deduction. Do not print 80G wording on receipts. |
| 80G approval held; religious spending within 5% of total income | Yes, within the limits below, provided the trust files its statement of donations. |
| Temple notified by the Central Government; gift made for renovation or repair | Yes, for those gifts, within the limits below. |
| 80G approval expired or cancelled | No, for donations made after the expiry or cancellation. |
The religious-purpose exclusion and the 5% figure above are quoted from the 1961 Act. Under the 2025 Act, approval conditions sit in section 354; have your CA read the current wording before you rely on the 5% figure for tax year 2026-27 onwards.
What donors actually get
- 50% of the donation, with a cap. For gifts to an approved institution — and for gifts to repair a notified place of worship — the deduction is 50% of the donation, and the qualifying amount is limited to 10% of the donor’s adjusted gross total income.
- No deduction for cash above ₹2,000. A cash donation of more than ₹2,000 does not qualify; cheque, draft and electronic modes do. The same ₹2,000 limit is in section 133(5) of the 2025 Act.
- No deduction for donations in kind. Only money qualifies.
- Not under the new tax regime. The Department’s FAQ, written for the 1961 Act, says the deduction cannot be claimed by a taxpayer who opts for the new tax regime under section 115BAC.
- Checked against your filing. The donor’s claim is matched with the details the trust reports in its statement of donations. Under the 2025 Act, section 133(6) allows the claim on the basis of the information the institution furnishes.
So an “80G receipt” only helps a donor who files under the old regime, pays by a non-cash mode, and gives to an approved trust that files its statement on time.
What a donation receipt should show
The formal document for the donor is the certificate generated after the trust files its statement (Form 10BE, now Form 114). Your own receipt still matters: it is the donor’s immediate proof, and it is where the data for the statement comes from. The Department’s FAQ lists what a donor needs — the receipt, the donee’s name, PAN and address, its 80G registration number and the amount. A complete receipt from an approved trust shows:
| Field | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| Trust’s legal name, address and PAN | Identifies the donee in the donor’s return |
| 80G approval number (URN) and its validity period | Shows the approval covered the date of the gift |
| Receipt number and date | Unique and sequential; ties the gift to your books |
| Donor’s name and address | Reported in the statement of donations |
| Donor’s PAN or Aadhaar number | The statement includes it for each donor — collect it at the counter, not in May |
| Amount in figures and words | Prevents alteration |
| Mode of payment and reference | Cash above ₹2,000 does not qualify, so the mode matters |
| Purpose (general, corpus or a named fund) | Needed for your own fund accounts |
| Authorised signature or digital authentication | Shows the trust issued it |
If the trust does not hold a current 80G approval, leave all 80G wording off the receipt. Printing it anyway misleads donors, whose claims will not match any statement you file. Our free 80G donation receipt format has a printable layout.
Temples that still write paper receipts can generate pre-acknowledgement numbers (pre-ARNs) on the e-filing portal — up to 1,000 at a time — for manual receipts, and then report those receipts in the statement against the pre-ARNs used.
The statement of donations: Form 10BD, now Form 113
- Who files: an approved trust that received donations in the year. If it received none, no statement is needed.
- When: by 31 May following the end of the year in which the donations were received.
- How: online on the e-filing portal, e-verified with a digital signature certificate, EVC or OTP. You can file more than one original statement for the same year, each carrying only new entries, and a correction statement to revise earlier ones.
- Certificates: after filing, the portal generates a certificate for each donation (Form 10BE, now Form 114). You download them — one PDF per donation — and give them to donors, also by 31 May.
An annual 80G calendar for the temple office
- All year: collect each donor’s name, address and PAN or Aadhaar at the time of giving, and tell donors paying more than ₹2,000 in cash that it will not qualify.
- Every month: reconcile donations with the bank and chase missing donor details while donors are still easy to reach.
- April: close the year’s donor list, remove duplicates and prepare the upload file in the portal’s format.
- By 31 May: file the statement of donations and e-verify it.
- By 31 May: download the certificates and send them to donors by email or post.
- Six months before your approval expires: apply for renewal.
For tax year 2026-27, that means a statement in Form 113 and certificates in Form 114 by 31 May 2027.
What happens if you do not file
For statements under the 1961 Act, the Department’s Form 10BD FAQ states that non-filing attracts a fee of ₹200 for every day of delay under section 234G, and a penalty under section 271K of not less than ₹10,000, which may extend to ₹1,00,000. The 2025 Act has its own fee and penalty provisions; we have not listed section numbers we could not confirm from an official source. The bigger cost falls on donors: their claims are checked against what you report, so a trust that does not file leaves its donors without the deduction they were told to expect.
Where software fits
A receipt system makes 31 May far easier by collecting the right details at the counter instead of in a rush in April. In Netra, your trust’s 80G registration number and wording can be printed on receipts, the devotee record holds PAN as an optional encrypted field, and donor-wise reports export to Excel or CSV for your CA to prepare the upload. Netra does not file Form 10BD or Form 113 and does not generate Form 10BE or Form 114 certificates — the trust or its CA files those on the e-filing portal. Add the 80G wording only if your trust holds a current approval.
Sources
- Form 10BD-10BE / Form 113-114 — Income Tax Department e-filing portal (due dates, rule 190(6) and 190(8), pre-ARNs, Form 114 generation)
- Form Mapping Guide: Income-tax Act, 1961 to Income-tax Act, 2025 (Forms 104, 105, 113, 114; effective 1 April 2026)
- FAQs on Section 80G — Income Tax Department (deduction categories, ₹2,000 cash limit, donations in kind, new regime, Form 10BD matching)
- Form 10BD-10BE FAQs — Income Tax Department (31 May due date, section 234G fee, section 271K penalty)
- Section 80G, Income-tax Act, 1961 — Income Tax Department (Explanation 3, sub-sections (2)(b), (5)(iii), (5B), (5D))
- Section 11, Income-tax Act, 1961 — income from property held for charitable or religious purposes (Income Tax Department)
- Rule 18AB, Income-tax Rules, 1962 — Income Tax Department
- Section 133, Income-tax Act, 2025 — sub-sections (1)(b)(vi), (5) and (6) (Indian Kanoon)
- CBDT Circular No. 6 of 2023 — validity of provisional and regular registration and approval
