80G deduction explained: how much of a donation you can deduct under the new Act

What is the 80G deduction called under the Income-tax Act, 2025?

The Income Tax Department's FAQs on the objective and scope of the new Act say the Income-tax Act, 1961 "stands repealed on the 01.04.2026". Its donation deduction, formerly section 80G, is now section 133 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, headed "Deduction in respect of donations to certain funds, charitable institutions, etc".

The benefit is a deduction, though it is sometimes called an "80G tax exemption". The department's December 2025 FAQs on section 80G separate a donation, "the actual amount of money donated", from a deduction, "the tax benefit you get for making that donation to any eligible donee, when computing your taxable income".

The department's page for section 133 places it in Chapter VIII, "Deductions to be made in computing total income". Section 202, which sets the default tax regime, refers to that chapter by number.

The forms and rules were renumbered too. The department's Form 113 and 114 FAQs, published on 20 March 2026, carry a conversion table, and the new Act FAQs add the regime and the year.

What it is	Formerly (1961 Act and 1962 Rules)	Now (2025 Act and 2026 Rules)
The donation deduction	Section 80G	Section 133
Statement of donations the organisation files	Form 10BD	Form 113
Certificate of donation for the donor	Form 10BE	Form 114
Section behind those forms	Section 80G(5)(viii) and (ix)	Section 354(1)
Rule behind those forms	Rule 18AB	Rule 190(2) and 190(7)
The new tax regime	Section 115BAC	Section 202
The year income is earned in	Previous year	Tax year

Where a receipt or a website still says "80G" for a gift made on or after 1 April 2026, read it as section 133.

Which Act covers your donation: before or after 1 April 2026?

The date you gave decides it. A donation made up to 31 March 2026 falls under section 80G of the 1961 Act, and one made from 1 April 2026 under section 133 of the 2025 Act. The new Act FAQs say the old Act "will continue to govern all tax years beginning before 1st April, 2026", and that AY 2026-27 returns use "the forms prescribed under the old Act".

A donation made between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027 falls in tax year 2026-27, the first tax year under the new Act, which the FAQs tie to income earned in FY 2026-27. The department's answer to its own question 7 is that the repeal "does not disturb anything relating to tax years before April 1, 2026".

Take a hypothetical donor who gave once on 20 March 2026 and again on 20 April 2026. The first gift belongs to the old Act and the return for AY 2026-27. The second belongs to section 133 and tax year 2026-27, which is assessed after that tax year ends on 31 March 2027. Keep the two sets of papers apart.

Which donations qualify for the deduction, and which do not?

A donation qualifies when it is money, paid to a fund section 133 names or to an approved non-profit, by a non-cash mode if it is over ₹2,000. Section 133(4) allows the deduction "only for donation made as a sum of money", and section 133(5) says "Any deduction for a donation over Rs. 2000 shall be allowed only if the payment is made by a mode other than cash."

A gift to a charity is covered by clause (1)(b)(ii) when the recipient is a fund or institution "established in India for a charitable purpose" that is "a registered non-profit organisation or an institution or fund mentioned in Schedule VII (Table: Sl. No. 1) and approved under section 354".

• A purpose that is wholly or substantially religious is not a "charitable purpose" under section 133(7)(b). Clause (1)(b)(vi) separately covers renovation or repair of a temple, mosque, gurudwara, church or other place the Central Government has notified for its historic, archaeological or artistic importance or as a place of public worship of renown.
• For the Swachh Bharat Kosh and the Clean Ganga Fund, section 133 excludes any sum spent as Corporate Social Responsibility under section 135(5) of the Companies Act, 2013. Company CSR spending is its own route; the guide to CSR internships starts from that side.
• Under section 133(3), a sum deducted here cannot be deducted again under any other provision, in that year or any other.
• A charity established outside India does not meet clause (1)(b)(ii), which needs a fund or institution "established in India". Political parties do not appear in any of the section's lists.

How much of a donation is deductible, and what does the 10% limit mean?

Either 100% or 50% of the donation, depending on where it went, and for some recipients only up to 10% of your adjusted gross total income. Section 133(1)(a) allows "the whole of the aggregate" given to the funds it lists. Section 133(1)(b) allows "an amount equal to 50%" for its list, which includes approved registered non-profits.

Section 133(2) sets the limit. Where gifts under clauses (1)(a)(xxiii) and (xxiv) and (1)(b)(ii) to (vi) exceed "10% of the adjusted gross total income", the excess "shall be ignored". Section 133(7)(a) defines adjusted gross total income as gross total income less income on which no tax is payable and less the deductions allowed under the chapter's other provisions. The four combinations, read from the section:

Share deducted	10% limit?	Examples in section 133
100%	No	The 22 clauses (1)(a)(i) to (xxii), covering funds such as the National Defence Fund, the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund and PM CARES Fund
100%	Yes	Family planning bodies in (1)(a)(xxiii); sports bodies in (1)(a)(xxiv), for company donors only
50%	No	The Prime Minister's Drought Relief Fund, (1)(b)(i)
50%	Yes	Approved registered non-profits and the other bodies in (1)(b)(ii) to (vi)

A worked example, entirely hypothetical and showing the deduction only: a salaried donor outside the default regime has adjusted gross total income of ₹5,00,000 and gives ₹60,000 by UPI to an approved non-profit. The 10% limit is ₹50,000, so ₹10,000 is ignored. Half of ₹50,000 gives a deduction of ₹25,000. What that does to the donor's tax depends on the rest of their return.

Now suppose the same donor also gives ₹10,000 to the PM CARES Fund. That gift sits in clause (1)(a)(ii), deductible in full and outside the 10% limit in section 133(2), so the total deduction becomes ₹35,000. The limit touches only the gifts in the clauses section 133(2) names.

The department's page on deductions under the old Act describes the same arithmetic for section 80G as "50 per cent of net qualifying amount". Why these limits shape what non-profits receive is part of the guide to how NGOs in India are funded.

Who can claim it, and does the default new tax regime allow it?

An individual or HUF can claim it only when outside the default new tax regime. Section 202 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, the new tax regime, computes total income "without any exemption or deduction under" a list that includes "Chapter VIII other than the provisions of sections 124(1) and 124(2), or 125(2) or 146". Section 133 sits in Chapter VIII and is not one of the exceptions.

Section 202 applies to individuals, Hindu undivided families, associations of persons (other than co-operative societies), bodies of individuals and artificial juridical persons. The new Act FAQs confirm that "the new regime is the default tax regime" and that opting out has been made available.

Section 133(1) works "In computing the total income of an assessee". Only one clause asks for a resident donor: the Clean Ganga Fund in (1)(a)(xxi). Clause (1)(b)(ii), for approved non-profits, sets no residence condition, so a non-resident Indian with taxable income in India is not shut out by it. The default-regime question in section 202 still applies to them.

For a person with no income from business or profession, section 202(4)(b) says the option to leave the default regime is exercised "along with the return of income" for the tax year. For such a person the choice travels with each year's return.

The rule is carried over from the old Act. The department's FAQs on section 80G, issued in December 2025 for its nudge campaign, said that the "deduction under Section 80G cannot be claimed if you opt for the new tax regime".

What paperwork does a donor get: Form 114, formerly Form 10BE?

The donor gets a certificate of donation in Form 114, issued after the organisation reports the gift in Form 113. The Income Tax Department's Form 113 and 114 FAQs of 20 March 2026 describe Form 113 as the statement of donations a registered non-profit files for the tax year, and Form 114 as the "acknowledgement/certificate for the donor".

Form 113 "is required to be filed before 31st May immediately following the end of the tax year". For gifts in tax year 2026-27 that means before 31 May 2027. It goes electronically to the Commissioner of Income Tax (CPC) on the e-filing portal and cannot be filed offline.

Under the same FAQs, once Form 113 is filed and Form 114 generated, "the donor may claim" the deduction "in the return of income filed subsequently". An 80G receipt the organisation hands you on the day is useful for your records. The claim rests on the reported statement.

The December 2025 FAQs record what the old forms held. Form 10BD carried each donor's "PAN or Aadhaar number, name, address, and the amount donated", and Form 10BE gave the donor the organisation's name, address, PAN and Unique Registration Number.

Form 113 is different. The department's Form 113 and 114 user manual lists four ID codes for a donor: Permanent Account Number, passport number, elector's photo identity number (voter ID) and the tax identification number of the country where the donor lives. Aadhaar is not on the list. If you mean to claim, give the organisation your PAN when you donate.

How do you check that an organisation's approval is valid?

Ask for its approval, check the dates cover the day you gave, and do not treat any other registration as a substitute. The Income Tax Department's December 2025 FAQs on section 80G put the job on the donor: it is "mandatory for donors to verify and confirm" the organisation's eligibility and "the correct category of deduction applicable".

Those FAQs pointed donors to the exempted institutions page on incometaxindia.gov.in to find an organisation's particulars, and told them to seek the certificate of donation, then Form 10BE and now Form 114.

1. Ask for the approval document, which the December 2025 FAQs call the 80G certificate (a different paper from the certificate of donation), and note the registration number and the period it covers.
2. Check that your donation date falls inside that period. Under those FAQs, a gift made after the certificate is cancelled or expires is not eligible.
3. Check that the name and PAN on the approval match the name on the bank account you are paying into.
4. Treat other registrations as separate facts. The NGO Darpan portal, whose home page now carries the title NPO Darpan, says NITI Aayog "only provides Darpan registration ID to NPOs on the basis of self-declared affidavit", so a Darpan ID says nothing about tax approval.

A tax approval also says nothing about how well an organisation runs its programmes. The wider checks are in the guide to checking whether an NGO is genuine. A student weighing a non-profit as an internship host can run the same registration checks, whether starting from the guide to NGO internships in Bangalore or the one on NGO internships in Mumbai.

How do you claim the 80G deduction in your income tax return?

You enter it in the return for the year you gave, after the organisation has reported the gift, with its details, the amount and your deduction. For AY 2026-27 returns, which use the old Act's forms, the department's December 2025 FAQs on section 80G give the route: "Deductions under Chapter VI-A" in the ITR form, then section 80G, then "the details of the donee, donation amount, and eligible deduction".

Those FAQs list what that Schedule 80G claim needs: the donation receipt, the donee's name and PAN, its address, its registration number under 80G and the amount donated. For the calculation, the same FAQs sort donations into four categories, which match the four rows of the table above.

The department's own page on Schedule 80G, last updated on 18 May 2026, says the schedule applies to ITR-1 to ITR-6. Beyond those details, it asks for each donation's type, the qualifying limit and the percentage of deduction, the donee's city, state code and pin code, and how much was paid in cash and how much by other modes.

For a gift made from 1 April 2026, the claim belongs in the return for tax year 2026-27, filed after that year ends on 31 March 2027. The department documents opened on 25 September 2026 do not show the donation schedule of that return, so its field names are not stated here. Keep the Form 114, the payment record and the approval details together until they are.

How does the Income Tax Department match a donor's claim?

Against what the organisation reported. Section 133(6) says a claim for a donation to an institution or fund under clause (1)(b)(ii) is allowed "only on the basis of the information relating to such donation furnished by such institution or fund" to the prescribed authority, and "subject to verification as per the risk management strategy formulated by the Board from time to time."

The Form 113 and 114 FAQs say the two forms "help verify donation claims and allow donors to claim tax deductions correctly". The organisation cannot file Form 113 at all without its own valid PAN. The December 2025 FAQs stated the old version of the rule plainly: the deduction claimed in the return must match "the details submitted by the donee in Form 10BD".

In practice, compare Form 114 with your own record of the payment before you file. If the amount, date or your identity details differ, the organisation is the party that can correct what was reported.