Option to withdraw the application done for registration of Charitable Trust at Income Tax Portal?

 

One of the sectors where substantial changes are carried out by the Government IN the recent time is with regard to the taxation of charitable trust, NGO & other institutions which are claiming tax exemptions.

Charitable trusts & other institutions who were already registered are now required to get re-registration or re-approval u/s 12A, 12AA or u/s 10(23C). This provision for registration and renewal has been changed drastically with effect from 01.04.2021. The last date for making re-registration or re-approval has been extended to 31.03.20222. It means that all such exiting registered trust are required to make the application on or before 31.03.2022.

Income Tax Rules have been amended so as to prescribed various new forms for registration by the trust & institutions. The categories of the trust, applicable forms and the time limits for application & approval is summarized as under:

S.No.	Applicability to the Trust or Institutions	Applicable Form, Time limit for application	Time limit for CIT / PCIT for approval or Rejection
1	Trust or Institution having existing registration u/s 12A or 12AA or 10(23C) [Now, Section 12A or 12AA is to be superseded by New Section 12AB]	Application is to be done in Form No. 10A within 3 months from the 01.04.2021	It has to be done within 3 months from the end of the month in which the application is received
2	Trust or institution which have already got registered u/s 12AB and the period of the said registration is due to expire (It may be noted that section 12AB is under new process, effective from 01.04.2021)	Application is to be done in Form No. 10AB at least 6 months prior to expiry	It has to be done within 6 months from the end of the month in which the application was received
3	Trust or institution has been provisionally registered u/s 2AB	Application is to be done in Form No. 10AB at least 6 months prior to expiry of period of the provisional registration or within 6 months of commencement of its activities, whichever is earlier	It has to be done within 6 months from the end of the month in which the application was received
4	Where registration of the trust or institution has become inoperative due to the first proviso to sub-section (7) of section 11 (Registration u/s 12A or 12AA shall become inoperative from the date on which the trust or institution is approved u/s 10(23C)	Application is to be done in Form No. 10AB at least 6 months prior to the commencement of the assessment year from which the said registration is sought to be made operative	It has to be done within 6 months from the end of the month in which the application was received
5	Trust or institution has adopted or undertaken modifications of the objects which do not conform to the conditions of registration	Application is to be done in Form No. 10AB within a period of 30 days from the date of the modification.	It has to be done within 6 months from the end of the month in which the application was received
6	Any other case (including provisional registration)	Application is to be done in Form No. 10A, at least 1 month prior to the commencement of the previous year relevant to the assessment year from which the said registration is sought and such trust or institution is registered u/S 12AB	It has to be done within 1 month from the end of the month in which the application was received

[Note: Existing Form 10A has been replaced by new Form 10A]

There are lot many trusts who have already made an application and are awaiting the registration certificate. There are also instances where the trust have made a mistake while filing form for registration in Form NO. 10A.

The mistakes are often the following:

1. Section for application is not corrected mentioned. There are various cases where the trust has applied for provisional registration instead of making application for permanent registration.

2. The section for registration quoted is wrongly mentioned.

3. The trustee name is not fully mentioned or wrongly quoted.

4. Other Information quoted is incorrect.

For all such cases, now there is a provision for cancellation of the application. The cancellation can be done only if the registration certificate has not been granted. If the registration is granted, cancellation application cannot be done.

It may be noted that the registration system is totally faceless and in e-mode. No physical application can be done as such

The step-wise procedure for cancelling the trust registration certificate application is as under:

1. Log in at www.incometax.gov.in

2. Go to menu “e-file” as under:

3. Now, click on the “Income Tax forms” and thereafter “View filed Forms”

4. You will able to view your filed forms detail. Therein on the right hand side, there are options to withdraw form NO. 10A will appear. In the instant case given hereunder, since the Form No. 10AC has been granted, the cancellation option is not appearing. In all other cases where application is done, the withdrawal option will be shown till Form No. 10AC is issued by the department.

5. By clicking the withdraw option, assessee can cancel Form No. 10A

6. After this, assessee can again make an application in Form NO. 10a.