Trustees of Mumbai public trusts spend a good deal of time on the Charity Commissioner’s requirements and rather less on the income tax side, which has just been rewritten. If your organisation holds 12A registration or 80G approval, this is what changed and what you need to do about it — which, reassuringly, is less than the headlines suggest.
Old and new section numbers at a glance
From 1 April 2026, the Income-tax Act, 2025 replaced the Income-tax Act, 1961. Trusts, societies and Section 8 companies are now called Registered Non-Profit Organisations (RNPOs), and their provisions sit in Part B of Chapter XVII (Sections 332 to 355).
| Purpose | Income-tax Act, 1961 | Income-tax Act, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Registration of a trust or NGO (income exemption) | Sections 12A / 12AA / 12AB, and 10(23C) | Section 332 |
| Approval for donors’ tax deduction | Section 80G | Section 354 |
| Provisional registration or approval (activities not yet started) | Form 10A | Form 104 |
| Regular registration, renewal, conversion of provisional registration, change of objects | Form 10AB | Form 105 |
| Annual statement of donations received | Form 10BD | Form 113 |
| Donation certificate to donors | Form 10BE | Form 114 |
A registration or approval that was valid and uncancelled on 1 April 2026 continues under the new Act until its original expiry; no fresh application is needed until renewal falls due. A registration that had already lapsed does not carry over. For renewals, see renewing 12A and 80G under the 2025 Act.
What happened
The Income-tax Act, 2025 came into force on 1 April 2026, replacing the Income-tax Act, 1961. Provisions for charitable and religious organisations, which were previously scattered across the old Act, are now consolidated into a single chapter, and such bodies are dealt with under one label: the registered non-profit organisation.
Do we have to re-register?
No — not because the new Act commenced. Organisations already registered under Section 12A, 12AA or 12AB, or approved under Section 80G, of the 1961 Act are treated as registered non-profit organisations under the new framework, and those registrations continue until they expire.
That is the answer to the question most boards are asking, and it should stop the panic. But it is not the end of it.
What still needs doing
- Fixed-period registrations still expire. Registrations and approvals granted under the regime introduced a few years ago run for a defined term and must be renewed before it ends. A lapse interrupts the organisation’s position and its donors’ deductions.
- Check what you actually hold. A surprising number of boards have never established which certificate they have or when it expires. It takes an hour and it is the single most useful thing to do this year.
- Two regimes run side by side this year. Income earned in 2025–26 remains governed by the 1961 Act, so filings made during 2026 for that year use the old provisions and forms, while income from 1 April 2026 falls under the new Act. The transition year is where mistakes get made.
What has not changed at all
The thing that actually stops most applications, and it is not a tax question. The income tax authorities ask who the trustees are and what the organisation did with its income. Those answers have to match the Charity Commissioner’s register and the audited accounts.
An organisation whose change reports under Section 22 were never filed has a register naming people who left years ago — so the person signing the tax application is not a recorded trustee. An organisation that cannot produce three years of audited accounts cannot complete the application. Neither problem is solved by any amount of attention to the new Act.
There is a further connection that catches trusts out: Schedule IX-D of the Charity Commissioner’s filing, added in 2019, requires the auditor to report the trust’s income tax registration particulars and its return acknowledgements for the preceding three years. A trust behind on income tax cannot complete its Charity Commissioner filing properly. The two tracks are tied together, which is why they are set out side by side on the compliance calendar.
What a board should do this quarter
- Establish what registrations the organisation holds and their expiry dates.
- Check that the Public Trust Register names the people actually acting as trustees, and file any outstanding change reports.
- Establish whether audited accounts exist for the last three years, and if not, begin reconstructing them.
- Diarise the renewal well before expiry, not in its final month.
Position as at September 2026. The position under a new Act develops as rules, forms and clarifications are issued, and should be confirmed for the year in question. The income tax filings themselves are work for the organisation’s chartered accountant.
This note sets out general information about procedure. It is not legal advice, and the position in any particular matter depends on its own facts and on the law as it stands at the time. Statutory references should be checked against the current text.
Related service: 12A, 80G and CSR-1 Registration for Trusts in Mumbai
See also: How renewal works under Sections 332 and 354.