80g | 12a

Let us take an illustration. Mr. X an individual and M/s. Y Pvt. Ltd., a Company both give donation of Rs. 1,00,000/- to a NGO called Satyakaam. The total income for the A.Y. year 2011-2012 of both Mr. X and Ms. Y Pvt. Ltd. is Rs. 3,00,000/-. The tax benefit would be as shown in the table:

Note :

• Education Cess & Sec. & Higher Educ. Cess has not been included in working of tax benefit.

IILUSTRATION OF BENEFITS UNDER SECTION 80G

1. Donations to private trusts

Step 1: Find out the qualifying amount

The qualifying amount under this category will be lower of the following two amounts:

a) The amount of donation

b) 10 per cent of the gross total income as reduced by all other deductions under Chapter VI-A of the Income Tax Act such as 80C (PPF, LIC etc.), 80D (mediclaim), 80CCC (pension schemes etc.).

For example, a taxpayer named Laxmi Arcelor has taxable salary of Rs 500,000. He has deposited Rs 70,000 in Public Provident Fund and Rs 60,000 in his company provident fund. He donates Rs 45,000 to CRY (Child Relief & You) trust. Presuming he has no other income, his taxable income will be computed as under:

After making donation to CRY, his qualifying amount for 80G will be:

Since 40,000 is lower, the qualifying amount will be Rs 40,000

Step 2: Find out actual deduction
The next question that arises is how much would be the actual deduction? In the case of donations to private trusts, the actual amount of donation would be 50 per cent of the qualifying amount.

Therefore, in the example given above, since the donation is made to a private trust, the deduction will be 50 per cent of the qualifying amount ie 50 per cent of Rs 40,000 = Rs 20,000.

So,

Step 3: Check upper limit
Finally, the deduction under section 80G cannot exceed your taxable income. For example, if your income before deduction is Rs 3 lakh and if you have given donation of Rs 5 lakh to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, please do not expect to claim a loss of Rs 2 lakhs. Your income will be NIL (Rs 3 lakh – Rs 3 lakh). The deduction will be restricted to the amount of your income.

ii) Donations to trusts/funds set up by the Government
In this category, the entire amount donated i.e. 100 per cent of the donation amount is eligible for deduction. There is a long list of 21 funds/institutions/purposes for which donations given would qualify for 100 per cent eligibility. Notable among this list are:

- The National Defence Fund

- The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund

- Any fund set up by the State Government of Gujarat for earthquake relief

The funds that figure in this long list are all set up by the Government. Private Trusts do not figure in this list.

Thus, in this category of donations, the ceiling of 10 per cent of the gross total income as reduced by all other deductions under Chapter VI-A of the Income Tax Act does not apply.

In the above example, if instead of donating to CRY, had the donation been given to say, The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, then the calculations would have different as shown below: