What changed on 1 April 2026
The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from tax year 2026-27. For a donation a temple receives today, the deduction that everyone still calls “80G” sits in section 133 of the new Act, approvals are granted under section 354, and the yearly statement and donor certificate are Form 113 and Form 114 under rule 190 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026. They replace Form 10BD and Form 10BE under rule 18AB of the 1961 rules, which still cover donations received up to 31 March 2026.
| Donation received | Deduction section | Statement by trust | Certificate to donor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 31 March 2026 | Section 80G, Income-tax Act, 1961 | Form 10BD (rule 18AB) | Form 10BE (rule 18AB) |
| From 1 April 2026 (tax year 2026-27) | Section 133(1)(b)(ii), Income-tax Act, 2025 | Form 113 (rule 190) — by 31 May | Form 114 (rule 190) — by 31 May |
The income-tax portal’s Form 114 carries approval numbers granted under either section 80G of the 1961 Act or section 354 of the 2025 Act, so a trust approved under the old Act prints the approval number it already has.
Who can issue an 80G receipt
Only a trust whose approval is current. Many temples cannot offer 80G at all: a trust whose objects are wholly religious is not eligible, because the CBDT’s own FAQ notes that “charitable purpose” does not include activities that are wholly or substantially religious, and under the 1961 Act an institution could spend up to 5% of its income on religious purposes and still be treated as eligible (section 80G(5B)). Donations for renovating a temple that the Central Government has notified as historic or of renown are a separate category (section 80G(2)(b) of the 1961 Act). If your trust is not sure whether it holds a current approval, check the income-tax department’s list of approved institutions before printing anything.
The fields to print on every receipt
The law prescribes the certificate — Form 10BE (now Form 114) — not the receipt. The CBDT’s 80G FAQ lists what a donor needs from the receipt to claim the deduction: the donee’s name, PAN and address, its registration number under 80G and the amount donated. The other fields below are what the trust needs so it can file Form 113 later without chasing donors.
| Field | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| Trust name and address | Listed in the CBDT FAQ; must match the approval order. |
| PAN of the trust | Listed in the CBDT FAQ; the donor enters it in their return. |
| Approval number and validity | Listed in the CBDT FAQ. Print the validity period stated on your approval order — donations after an approval expires are not deductible. |
| Receipt number and date | Ties the receipt to your books and to the Form 113 line. Number by financial year. |
| Donor name and address | Reported in Form 113 and printed on Form 114. |
| Donor PAN or other ID | The portal’s Form 113 user manual lists PAN, passport number, elector’s photo identity number and a foreign tax identification number as ID codes (Form 10BD also accepted Aadhaar); check the current form for what it accepts. Without an ID, the trust cannot report the donation properly. |
| Amount in figures and words | Listed in the CBDT FAQ. Words make alteration harder. |
| Mode of payment | Cash above ₹2,000 is not deductible, and Form 113 asks for the mode (cash, kind, electronic modes including cheque or draft, others). |
| Type of donation | Form 113 separates corpus donations, other voluntary contributions, specific grants and CSR funds. |
| Pre-ARN, if used | Only if the trust generated Pre-ARNs on the e-filing portal to issue manual certificates at the counter (see below). |
| Eligibility statement and signature | A one-line statement of the section, and an authorised signatory. |
Pre-ARN: the new number some receipts carry
From tax year 2026-27 the portal offers two routes. A trust can file Form 113 and download system-generated Form 114 certificates (available within 24 hours of filing). Or it can generate Pre-ARNs (pre-acknowledgement numbers) in advance — up to 1,000 at a time — and issue a manual certificate to the donor at the time of the donation, quoting a Pre-ARN on each one. Generating Pre-ARNs is optional. If you use them, every Pre-ARN you issue must later appear in a Form 113, and unused ones expire after 31 May of the following year.
After the year ends: Form 113 and Form 114
The receipt is not the end. By 31 May (31 May 2027 for donations received from 1 April 2026) after the tax year closes, the trust files Form 113 listing each donor and donation (rule 190(6)) and issues each donor a certificate in Form 114 — the new Form 10BE (rule 190(8)). Our 80G guide for temples walks through the filing. The donor’s claim is matched against what the trust reports, so a receipt with a missing PAN or a wrong amount becomes the donor’s problem in their return — and the trust’s problem on the phone.
Cash, kind and gold offerings
- Cash above ₹2,000 is not deductible (section 80G(5D) of the 1961 Act; section 133(5) of the 2025 Act). Still issue a receipt — just don’t promise a deduction.
- Donations in kind — rice, ghee, gold or silver items — are not deductible: only sums of money qualify. Acknowledge them on a separate in-kind receipt without the eligibility statement.
- Hundi offerings — cash dropped in the temple’s offering box — are anonymous, so there is no donor to receipt. Count them on our free hundi counting sheet.
