You gave money to a charity this year and now want the tax benefit for it. Section 80G is the provision that gives it — but only if the donation went to an approved fund or institution, only in the right payment mode, and only under the old tax regime. Get any of those three wrong and the deduction is lost, even though the donation itself was genuine.
Answer in brief: Section 80G donation deduction lets taxpayers under the old tax regime deduct donations to approved funds and institutions from their taxable income. Depending on the recipient, the deduction is 100% or 50% of the amount donated, and for most ordinary charities it is capped at 10% of your adjusted gross total income. Cash donations above ₹2,000 do not qualify, and since AY 2023-24 you need a Form 10BE certificate from the donee to claim it.
What is Section 80G and who can claim it?
Section 80G of the old Income-tax Act, 1961 — now Section 133 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, effective 1 April 2026 — allows a deduction for donations to specified funds, charitable institutions and relief organisations. Any taxpayer can claim it: an individual, a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), a firm or a company. There is no minimum donation amount in the law, and there is no overall ceiling on how much you can donate. What varies is how much of the donation is deductible, and that depends entirely on who received it.
Two conditions apply to every claim, whatever the recipient. First, the recipient must be approved: either a fund named in the section itself, or an institution holding a valid 80G registration. Second, you must be filing under the old tax regime. Section 80G is a Chapter VI-A deduction, and the new tax regime (Section 202 of the 2025 Act, old Section 115BAC) does not allow Chapter VI-A deductions except a few specified ones. If you opted for the new regime, no donation, however worthy, gives you an 80G deduction.
Which donations get 100% deduction and which get 50%?
The Income Tax Department sorts eligible donations into four categories. Knowing your donation’s category matters more than knowing the amount, because the category decides both the percentage and whether the 10% income cap applies.
| Category | Deduction | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100%, no qualifying limit | Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF), PM CARES Fund, National Defence Fund, National Disaster Response Fund, National Foundation for Communal Harmony |
| 2 | 50%, no qualifying limit | Prime Minister’s Drought Relief Fund and certain other specified government funds |
| 3 | 100%, subject to the qualifying limit | Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, approved institutions for scientific research and rural development |
| 4 | 50%, subject to the qualifying limit | Most registered NGOs, charitable trusts, religious bodies and educational institutions approved under the Act |
Category 4 is where most everyday donations fall. If you gave to a local NGO, a school trust or a temple trust, your deduction is almost certainly 50% of the donation and subject to the 10% cap explained below. Category 1 is the exception people hear about most: a donation to PMNRF or PM CARES is deductible in full, with no income-based cap at all. Do not assume a donation is Category 1 because the cause is a national one — the category follows the recipient’s listing in the Act, not the cause. The donation certificate (Form 10BE, covered below) states the category, and that is what your return must match.
What is the 10% qualifying limit and how is it calculated?
For categories 3 and 4, the deduction is capped at 10% of your adjusted gross total income (AGTI). AGTI is not your salary and not your gross total income. It is your gross total income minus long-term capital gains, minus short-term capital gains taxed at special rates, minus certain special-rate incomes, and minus all Chapter VI-A deductions other than 80G itself. The ITR utility computes it for you, but knowing the steps stops you from over-claiming.
Worked example. Suppose your AGTI is ₹8,00,000 and you donated ₹1,00,000 to a registered NGO (Category 4, 50% with limit). The qualifying limit is 10% of ₹8,00,000, which is ₹80,000. Only ₹80,000 of your donation counts, and 50% of that is deductible — so your 80G deduction is ₹40,000, not ₹50,000. The remaining ₹20,000 of donation gives no deduction at all, and it cannot be carried forward to next year. The Income Tax Department’s own Section 80G FAQs confirm there is no carry-forward of the excess.
Contrast that with a Category 1 donation. If instead you gave ₹1,00,000 to PMNRF, the whole ₹1,00,000 is deductible, whatever your income. That is why two donations of the same amount can produce very different tax savings, and why the recipient matters as much as the cheque.
One more arithmetic check, because it shows the real saving. At a 30% slab rate plus 4% cess, a ₹40,000 deduction saves ₹12,480 in tax. At a 20% slab rate plus cess, the same deduction saves ₹8,320. The deduction reduces your taxable income; it is not a refund of the donation itself.
Is a cash donation above ₹2,000 eligible for 80G?
No. This is the single most common reason 80G claims are rejected. Under the Act, no deduction is allowed for a cash donation above ₹2,000 — even if you hold a proper receipt, even if the institution is fully approved, and even if a Form 10BE was issued for it. A certificate does not cure a cash payment. For any donation above ₹2,000, pay by cheque, demand draft, bank transfer, UPI or card, and keep the bank record with the certificate.
Two related points. Donations in kind — food, clothes, medicines, equipment — do not qualify under 80G at all, however valuable. Only money donations count. And a donation claimed under 80G cannot be claimed again under any other section: one donation, one deduction. A political party donation, for instance, is not an 80G matter at all; it falls under the separate provision for political contributions, so do not enter it in Schedule 80G.
Can I claim the 80G deduction in the new tax regime?
No. Section 80G is available only under the old tax regime. This is stated plainly in the Income Tax Department’s Section 80G FAQs and on every major guide to the provision. If you chose the new regime for FY 2026-27, your donations give no deduction, and entering them in Schedule 80G will not change that — the utility will simply not allow the claim. Before you donate mainly for the tax benefit, check which regime you are in. Our guide to old vs new tax regime for FY 2026-27 walks through the comparison, and for most salaried taxpayers the new regime’s lower slabs already beat the old regime’s deductions.
What is Form 10BE and how do I get it?
Since AY 2023-24, a stamped paper receipt alone is no longer enough. The system now works in two steps. First, the donee institution files Form 10BD — an annual, donor-wise statement of donations — on the income tax portal by 31 May after the financial year ends. Then the portal generates Form 10BE, the donation certificate, for each donor. You, the donor, need that Form 10BE to claim the deduction.
Form 10BE carries the details your return needs: the donee’s name, PAN and Unique Registration Number (URN), your PAN or Aadhaar, the donation amount, and the deduction category. Check it the moment you receive it. If the category is wrong — say a Category 4 NGO donation recorded as Category 1 — the mismatch will surface when your return is processed, and part of the claim will be disallowed. Ask the institution to correct its Form 10BD filing so a fresh 10BE is generated, before you file.
Also reconcile Form 10BE against your Annual Information Statement (AIS). Donations reported through Form 10BD flow into AIS, so the three records — Form 10BE, AIS and your ITR’s Schedule 80G — should show the same amount. Our guide to Form 26AS vs AIS vs TIS explains how to check AIS and fix mismatches before filing.
How do I claim 80G in my ITR?
The claim itself takes a few minutes once the documents are in order. The steps below assume you are filing under the old regime.
- Collect Form 10BE from every institution you donated to, and confirm the category and amount on each certificate.
- Verify the institution’s approval on the Income Tax Department’s exempted-institutions utility before you rely on the certificate, especially for a first-time donation.
- Open Schedule 80G in your ITR and enter each donation separately: donee name, donee PAN, URN, donation amount and category. Do not club donations to different institutions into one line.
- Let the utility apply the qualifying limit. It caps Category 3 and 4 donations at 10% of your adjusted gross total income automatically. Compare its figure with your own calculation from the worked example above.
- Check AIS before submitting. If AIS shows a different donation figure, resolve it with the institution first — a mismatch flagged at processing time is harder to fix than one caught before filing.
- Keep the records. Retain Form 10BE, the payment proof and the receipt for at least six years. Scrutiny can ask for them long after the refund arrives.
For the filing steps themselves, see our step-by-step ITR filing guide. Note that 80G sits alongside other old-regime deductions in your return: if you also claim 80C investments such as PPF, those reduce your AGTI for the 80G limit calculation, because AGTI is computed after other Chapter VI-A deductions.
What mistakes get 80G claims rejected?
Most rejections come from a short list of avoidable errors. Paying more than ₹2,000 in cash is first. Claiming under the new regime is second. Entering the wrong category — usually a Category 4 donation entered as 100% — is third, and it is caught automatically at processing because the department holds the institution’s own Form 10BD data. Filing without Form 10BE, or with a certificate whose amount differs from AIS, is fourth. And claiming the same donation under two sections, or trying to carry an excess donation into next year, is fifth: neither is permitted.
One timing point deserves a line of its own. The donation must fall in the financial year you claim it for. A donation made on 2 April 2026 belongs to FY 2026-27, not FY 2025-26, even if you file the earlier year’s return late. Donations near 31 March need the payment date, not the receipt date, to be right.
Frequently asked questions
What is the maximum deduction under Section 80G?
There is no fixed maximum donation amount. For Category 1 donations such as PMNRF, the full amount is deductible with no cap. For Category 3 and 4 donations, the deductible amount is capped at 10% of your adjusted gross total income, and then reduced to 100% or 50% as per the category.
Can I claim 80G for a donation made in cash?
Only up to ₹2,000. Any cash donation above ₹2,000 earns no deduction at all, even with a receipt and a Form 10BE. For larger donations, always pay by cheque, bank transfer, UPI or card and keep the payment proof.
Is Form 10BE mandatory for claiming 80G?
Yes, since AY 2023-24. The donee must file Form 10BD by 31 May after the financial year, after which the portal issues Form 10BE to each donor. A manual receipt alone is no longer accepted as proof for the claim.
Can I claim 80G deduction under the new tax regime?
No. Section 80G is a Chapter VI-A deduction available only under the old tax regime. Taxpayers who opted for the new regime cannot claim it, whatever the donation amount or recipient.
Can I carry forward an unclaimed 80G donation to next year?
No. If your donation exceeds the 10% qualifying limit, the excess is lost permanently. There is no carry-forward of unclaimed 80G amounts, so timing large donations across years is worth planning in advance.
Which donations qualify for 100% deduction without any limit?
Donations to specified national funds qualify, including the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, PM CARES Fund, National Defence Fund and National Disaster Response Fund. Most ordinary NGO and trust donations fall in the 50% category with the 10% income cap instead.
Official sources
- Income Tax Department — FAQs on Section 80G (incometax.gov.in) — categories, qualifying limit, cash rule and Form 10BE requirement.
- Income Tax Department — Exempted institutions utility (incometaxindia.gov.in) — verify a fund or institution’s approval and PAN before donating.
- Income Tax Department e-filing portal (incometax.gov.in) — AIS, Schedule 80G and Form 10BD/10BE filings.
Reviewed by Asuthod Rathod, CA · Last updated: 30 October 2026
Disclaimer: This article explains tax rules in simple terms for general information. Tax law changes often, and your exact deduction depends on your income, regime and the recipient’s approval status. Verify the current rules on incometax.gov.in or consult a qualified tax professional before filing.
Editorial byline for eircicai tax saving guides — covering 80C investments, ELSS, PPF, NPS, and regime comparison. Content is reviewed by Asuthod Rathod, CA.