Registration of charity institutions to be made completely electronic, says Sitharaman

In order to simplify compliance, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed to make the process of new and existing charity institutions registration completely electronic under which a unique registration number (URN) shall be issued to all.

In order to simplify compliance, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed to make the process of new and existing charity institutions registration completely electronic under which a unique registration number (URN) shall be issued to all. "The registration of charity institutions will be made completely electronic and donations made to be pre-filed in Income Tax (IT) return form to claim exemptions for donations easily," said Sitharaman while presenting Union Budget in the Parliament.

The Finance Minister said that this would result in a hassle-free claim of deduction for donations made by the taxpayer. To facilitate the registration of the new charity institutions which are yet to start their charitable activities, the Union Budget proposed to allow provisional registration for three years.

Acknowledging the important role played by the charitable institutions in the society, the Finance Minister said that the income of these institutions is fully exempt from taxation and donations made to these institutions is allowed as a deduction in computing the taxable income of the donor. Currently, a taxpayer is required to fill the complete details of the donation in the IT return for availing deduction. (ANI)