12A and 80G registration: how NGOs get tax exemption and donor deductions in 2026

Existing registrations continue for their remaining validity. Everyone still says “12A and 80G”, and so do we.

Any trust, society or Section 8 company set up for charitable or religious purposes can apply, once it exists legally and has a PAN. The tax officer checks two things: that every object in the deed, memorandum or articles is charitable, and that the income and assets cannot go back to the founders. The dissolution clause and any clause allowing benefit to trustees or members are where applications fail.

• When: before the NGO starts its activities, which in practice means right after it is formed.
• Form: Form 104, filed on the income tax e-filing portal and verified with a DSC or EVC.
• Documents: the registered deed or memorandum and rules (or MoA and AoA and incorporation certificate), registration certificate, PAN, and details of trustees or directors. Include the NGO Darpan ID if you already have one.
• Outcome: provisional 12A and 80G, usually within about a month, valid for three years. Donors can claim 80G from the date of provisional approval.

• When: at least six months before the provisional registration expires, or within six months of starting activities, whichever is earlier. The second limb catches many NGOs: if you start work in month two, the clock runs from then.
• Form: Form 105. The Commissioner (Exemptions) examines the activities, may ask for accounts, a note on activities, and evidence that the work is genuine, and has up to six months to decide.
• Validity: five years. Trusts whose total income, before applying the exemption, did not exceed ₹5 crore in each of the two preceding years can get ten years, following the Finance Act, 2025 change.
• Renewal: at least six months before expiry, again in Form 105.

Registration can be cancelled for “specified violations”: applying income for non-charitable purposes, benefiting founders or trustees, running business activity beyond the permitted limit, or not filing returns and audit reports. Cancellation can trigger tax on the NGO’s accreted income, broadly the market value of its net assets, which is why annual compliance matters:

• apply 85% of income to the objects in the year, or accumulate the balance through the prescribed form;
• file the audit report (Form 126) before the return due date where required;
• file the income tax return every year;
• file Form 113 and issue Form 114 by 31 May;
• report changes to the objects or constitution to the Commissioner.

The objections we see most often are objects that include non-charitable or business activity, a dissolution clause that does not send assets to a similar charity, religious objects mixed into a charitable NGO (which affects 80G), activities that do not match the stated objects, and missing registration under the state public trust Act where one applies.