How long does registration under s.12AB now run, is the ten-year period for small trusts real, and is there still any way to save a late Form 10A or Form 10AB?
Registration under s.12AB(1)(a) and under s.12AB(1)(b)(ii)(A) runs five years; provisional registration under s.12AB(1)(c) runs three years from the assessment year for which registration is sought. The ten-year period is real but narrower than it is usually described: a proviso to s.12AB(1) inserted by the Finance Act 2025 (Act No. 7 of 2025) with effect from 1 April 2025 substitutes ten years for five where the application is under sub-clauses (i) to (v) of s.12A(1)(ac) and the total income of the trust, without giving effect to ss.11 and 12, did not exceed rupees five crores in each of the two previous years preceding the previous year in which the application is made — it does not lengthen the three-year provisional registration under clause (c). Separately, a proviso to s.12A(1)(ac) inserted by Act No. 15 of 2024 with effect from 1 October 2024 empowers the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner to condone a delay in filing where he considers there is a reasonable cause, and the application is then deemed to have been filed within time.
Decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) on 2025-04-01, reported as Finance Act, 2025 (Act No. 7 of 2025), w.e.f. 1 April 2025; Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024 (Act No. 15 of 2024), w.e.f. 1 October 2024. It bears on section 12AB, section 12AB(1), section 12AB(2), section 12AB(3), section 12AB(4), section 12AB(5), section 12A, section 12A(1)(ac), section 80G(5), section 119 of the Income Tax Act 1961, in Charitable Trusts & Exemption, Capital Gains Exemptions and How Tax Law Is Read matters.
Three things in this framework are routinely got wrong. First, the ten-year proviso is being described as extending 'provisional and final registration' to ten years for small trusts; it does not touch provisional registration at all, and the income test is applied to the two previous years preceding the previous year in which the application is made, not to the year of application. Second, the condonation power exists for registration under s.12A(1)(ac) and does not by its terms extend to approval under s.80G(5) — for a late s.80G application the route is clause (iv)(B) of the first proviso to s.80G(5) — a clause the same Act did not insert but opened up from the same date, by omitting the words that had confined item (B) to an institution no part of whose income had been excluded under sub-clause (iv), (v), (vi) or (via) of s.10(23C) or under s.11 or s.12 for any previous year ending on or before the date of application (footnote 95a on the departmental page, "omtt. by Act No. 15 of 2024, w.e.f. 1-10-2024"), and by omitting the opening words "in any other case," from clause (iv). Third, s.12AB(4) is not a general power of cancellation: it operates only on one of the seven specified violations set out in the Explanation, and only where one of the three triggers in clauses (a) to (c) is present, and any order under it is subject to the six-month limitation in s.12AB(5), which runs from the end of the quarter in which the first notice calling for documents or information was issued on or after 1 April 2022 — not from the date the violation is discovered. The time limits in s.12AB(3) for disposing of the application are also frequently overlooked: three months from the end of the month for a clause (a) application, six months from the end of the quarter for a clause (b)(ii) application, and one month from the end of the month for a clause (c) provisional registration.
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Section 12AB, headed "Procedure for fresh registration", was inserted with effect from 1 April 2021 in place of s.12AA. Sub-section (1) requires the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, on an application under s.12A(1)(ac), to register for five years where the application is under sub-clause (i); to make inquiry into the genuineness of activities and into compliance with such requirements of any other law as are material for achieving the objects, and then either to register for five years or, if not satisfied, to reject, where the application is under sub-clause (ii), (iii), (iv), (v) or item (B) of sub-clause (vi); and to register provisionally for three years where the application is under item (A) of sub-clause (vi). The two limbs of a rejection are drafted differently: under item (B)(I), in a case under sub-clause (ii), (iii) or (v), the order rejects the application "and also cancel[s] its registration", and the words about opportunity of being heard do not appear there; under item (B)(II), in a case under sub-clause (iv) or item (B) of sub-clause (vi), the order merely rejects the application, "after affording a reasonable opportunity of being heard". Sub-section (2) deems applications pending under s.12AA(1)(b) when s.12AB came into force to be applications under s.12A(1)(ac)(vi). Sub-section (3) fixes the periods for passing the order. Sub-section (4) permits cancellation where the Commissioner has noticed the occurrence of a specified violation, or has received a reference from the Assessing Officer under the second proviso to s.143(3), or the case has been selected under the Board's risk management strategy; the Explanation defines specified violation exhaustively in clauses (a) to (g), covering application of income otherwise than for the objects; business income not incidental to the objects or separate books not maintained for incidental business; application for private religious purposes not enuring for the benefit of the public; application by a post-commencement charitable trust for the benefit of a particular religious community or caste; activity which is not genuine or is not being carried out in accordance with the conditions of registration; non-compliance with any other law where the holding of non-compliance has attained finality or is undisputed; and an application under s.12A(1)(ac) containing false or incorrect information. Sub-section (5) fixes the limitation for the order under sub-section (4). Section 12A(1)(ac) sets out the six categories of applicant and the time within which each must apply, and now carries a proviso permitting condonation of delay. The proviso to clause (ac), inserted by Act No. 15 of 2024 with effect from 1 October 2024, reads: "Provided that where the application is filed beyond the time allowed in sub-clauses (i) to (vi), the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner may, if he considers that there is a reasonable cause for delay in filing the application, condone such delay and such application shall be deemed to have been filed within time;" — note that it reaches every sub-clause, provisional applications included.
Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory text. Registration under s.12AB(1)(a) (an application under s.12A(1)(ac)(i)) and under s.12AB(1)(b)(ii)(A) (applications under sub-clauses (ii) to (v) and item (B) of sub-clause (vi)) runs five years; provisional registration under s.12AB(1)(c) runs three years from the assessment year from which registration is sought. The proviso to s.12AB(1), inserted by Act No. 7 of 2025 with effect from 1 April 2025, substitutes ten years for five, but only where the application is under sub-clauses (i) to (v) of s.12A(1)(ac) and total income computed without giving effect to ss.11 and 12 did not exceed rupees five crores in each of the two previous years preceding the previous year of application; because it works by substituting for the words "five years", it cannot touch the three-year provisional registration, and because it is confined to sub-clauses (i) to (v) it does not reach a first-time applicant under item (B) of sub-clause (vi), who takes five years however small he is. The proviso to s.12A(1)(ac), inserted by Act No. 15 of 2024 with effect from 1 October 2024, empowers the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner to condone a delay in filing an application under any of sub-clauses (i) to (vi) where he considers there is a reasonable cause, the application then being deemed filed within time. Cancellation under s.12AB(4) requires one of the seven specified violations exhaustively defined in clauses (a) to (g) of the Explanation and one of the three triggers in clauses (a) to (c), and the order must be passed within six months of the end of the quarter in which the first notice under clause (i) of that sub-section was issued on or after 1 April 2022.
Not a judicial route. Three drafting choices do the work. First, the ten-year proviso operates by substitution — "for the words 'five years', the words 'ten years' had been substituted" — so it can only reach a period already expressed as five years, which is why provisional registration under clause (c) is untouched by it; and its condition is stated by reference to the sub-clause of s.12A(1)(ac) under which the application is made, not by reference to the size of the trust alone, which is why item (B) of sub-clause (vi) falls outside it. Second, the income test is expressed as total income "without giving effect to the provisions of sections 11 and 12" — the gross figure before exemption, not the taxable figure — and is fixed to the two previous years preceding the previous year of application, so it is knowable before the application is made. Third, the condonation power was placed inside s.12A(1)(ac), which governs registration, and the parallel relief for s.80G was effected instead by omitting restrictive words from clause (iv) of the first proviso to s.80G(5); the two are structurally different, and an argument built on the s.12A proviso does not transfer to an s.80G application.
Provided that where an application is made under sub-clauses (i) to (v) of the said clause, and the total income of such trust or institution, without giving effect to the provisions of sections 11 and 12, does not exceed rupees five crores during each of the two previous years, preceding the previous year in which such application is made, the provisions of this sub-section shall have effect as if for the words "five years", the words "ten years" had been substituted.
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Handle my notice → Ask a CA on WhatsAppRegistration under s.12AB(1)(a) and under s.12AB(1)(b)(ii)(A) runs five years; provisional registration under s.12AB(1)(c) runs three years from the assessment year for which registration is sought. The ten-year period is real but narrower than it is usually described: a proviso to s.12AB(1) inserted by the Finance Act 2025 (Act No. 7 of 2025) with effect from 1 April 2025 substitutes ten years for five where the application is under sub-clauses (i) to (v) of s.12A(1)(ac) and the total income of the trust, without giving effect to ss.11 and 12, did not exceed rupees five crores in each of the two previous years preceding the previous year in which the application is made — it does not lengthen the three-year provisional registration under clause (c). Separately, a proviso to s.12A(1)(ac) inserted by Act No. 15 of 2024 with effect from 1 October 2024 empowers the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner to condone a delay in filing where he considers there is a reasonable cause, and the application is then deemed to have been filed within time. This was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) and bears on section 12AB, section 12AB(1), section 12AB(2), section 12AB(3), section 12AB(4), section 12AB(5), section 12A, section 12A(1)(ac), section 80G(5), section 119 of the Income Tax Act 1961. It is reported as Finance Act, 2025 (Act No. 7 of 2025), w.e.f. 1 April 2025; Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024 (Act No. 15 of 2024), w.e.f. 1 October 2024. Three things in this framework are routinely got wrong. First, the ten-year proviso is being described as extending 'provisional and final registration' to ten years for small trusts; it does not touch provisional registration at all, and the income test is applied to the two previous years preceding the previous year in which the application is made, not to the year of application. Second, the condonation power exists for registration under s.12A(1)(ac) and does not by its terms extend to approval under s.80G(5) — for a late s.80G application the route is clause (iv)(B) of the first proviso to s.80G(5) — a clause the same Act did not insert but opened up from the same date, by omitting the words that had confined item (B) to an institution no part of whose income had been excluded under sub-clause (iv), (v), (vi) or (via) of s.10(23C) or under s.11 or s.12 for any previous year ending on or before the date of application (footnote 95a on the departmental page, "omtt. by Act No. 15 of 2024, w.e.f. 1-10-2024"), and by omitting the opening words "in any other case," from clause (iv). Third, s.12AB(4) is not a general power of cancellation: it operates only on one of the seven specified violations set out in the Explanation, and only where one of the three triggers in clauses (a) to (c) is present, and any order under it is subject to the six-month limitation in s.12AB(5), which runs from the end of the quarter in which the first notice calling for documents or information was issued on or after 1 April 2022 — not from the date the violation is discovered. The time limits in s.12AB(3) for disposing of the application are also frequently overlooked: three months from the end of the month for a clause (a) application, six months from the end of the quarter for a clause (b)(ii) application, and one month from the end of the month for a clause (c) provisional registration. If it applies to you, the first step is this: Before assuming a five-year certificate, test the ten-year proviso: identify the sub-clause of s.12A(1)(ac) under which the application is made, and compute total income before ss.11 and 12 for each of the two previous years preceding the previous year of application against the five crore limit.
Section 12AB, headed "Procedure for fresh registration", was inserted with effect from 1 April 2021 in place of s.12AA. Sub-section (1) requires the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, on an application under s.12A(1)(ac), to register for five years where the application is under sub-clause (i); to make inquiry into the genuineness of activities and into compliance with such requirements of any other law as are material for achieving the objects, and then either to register for five years or, if not satisfied, to reject, where the application is under sub-clause (ii), (iii), (iv), (v) or item (B) of sub-clause (vi); and to register provisionally for three years where the application is under item (A) of sub-clause (vi). The two limbs of a rejection are drafted differently: under item (B)(I), in a case under sub-clause (ii), (iii) or (v), the order rejects the application "and also cancel[s] its registration", and the words about opportunity of being heard do not appear there; under item (B)(II), in a case under sub-clause (iv) or item (B) of sub-clause (vi), the order merely rejects the application, "after affording a reasonable opportunity of being heard". Sub-section (2) deems applications pending under s.12AA(1)(b) when s.12AB came into force to be applications under s.12A(1)(ac)(vi). Sub-section (3) fixes the periods for passing the order. Sub-section (4) permits cancellation where the Commissioner has noticed the occurrence of a specified violation, or has received a reference from the Assessing Officer under the second proviso to s.143(3), or the case has been selected under the Board's risk management strategy; the Explanation defines specified violation exhaustively in clauses (a) to (g), covering application of income otherwise than for the objects; business income not incidental to the objects or separate books not maintained for incidental business; application for private religious purposes not enuring for the benefit of the public; application by a post-commencement charitable trust for the benefit of a particular religious community or caste; activity which is not genuine or is not being carried out in accordance with the conditions of registration; non-compliance with any other law where the holding of non-compliance has attained finality or is undisputed; and an application under s.12A(1)(ac) containing false or incorrect information. Sub-section (5) fixes the limitation for the order under sub-section (4). Section 12A(1)(ac) sets out the six categories of applicant and the time within which each must apply, and now carries a proviso permitting condonation of delay. The proviso to clause (ac), inserted by Act No. 15 of 2024 with effect from 1 October 2024, reads: "Provided that where the application is filed beyond the time allowed in sub-clauses (i) to (vi), the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner may, if he considers that there is a reasonable cause for delay in filing the application, condone such delay and such application shall be deemed to have been filed within time;" — note that it reaches every sub-clause, provisional applications included. The matter was decided on 2025-04-01 by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text). On those facts the CBDT Circulars & Instructions held as follows. Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory text. Registration under s.12AB(1)(a) (an application under s.12A(1)(ac)(i)) and under s.12AB(1)(b)(ii)(A) (applications under sub-clauses (ii) to (v) and item (B) of sub-clause (vi)) runs five years; provisional registration under s.12AB(1)(c) runs three years from the assessment year from which registration is sought. The proviso to s.12AB(1), inserted by Act No. 7 of 2025 with effect from 1 April 2025, substitutes ten years for five, but only where the application is under sub-clauses (i) to (v) of s.12A(1)(ac) and total income computed without giving effect to ss.11 and 12 did not exceed rupees five crores in each of the two previous years preceding the previous year of application; because it works by substituting for the words "five years", it cannot touch the three-year provisional registration, and because it is confined to sub-clauses (i) to (v) it does not reach a first-time applicant under item (B) of sub-clause (vi), who takes five years however small he is. The proviso to s.12A(1)(ac), inserted by Act No. 15 of 2024 with effect from 1 October 2024, empowers the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner to condone a delay in filing an application under any of sub-clauses (i) to (vi) where he considers there is a reasonable cause, the application then being deemed filed within time. Cancellation under s.12AB(4) requires one of the seven specified violations exhaustively defined in clauses (a) to (g) of the Explanation and one of the three triggers in clauses (a) to (c), and the order must be passed within six months of the end of the quarter in which the first notice under clause (i) of that sub-section was issued on or after 1 April 2022.
Not a judicial route. Three drafting choices do the work. First, the ten-year proviso operates by substitution — "for the words 'five years', the words 'ten years' had been substituted" — so it can only reach a period already expressed as five years, which is why provisional registration under clause (c) is untouched by it; and its condition is stated by reference to the sub-clause of s.12A(1)(ac) under which the application is made, not by reference to the size of the trust alone, which is why item (B) of sub-clause (vi) falls outside it. Second, the income test is expressed as total income "without giving effect to the provisions of sections 11 and 12" — the gross figure before exemption, not the taxable figure — and is fixed to the two previous years preceding the previous year of application, so it is knowable before the application is made. Third, the condonation power was placed inside s.12A(1)(ac), which governs registration, and the parallel relief for s.80G was effected instead by omitting restrictive words from clause (iv) of the first proviso to s.80G(5); the two are structurally different, and an argument built on the s.12A proviso does not transfer to an s.80G application. In the words reproduced by the source cited on this page: "Provided that where an application is made under sub-clauses (i) to (v) of the said clause, and the total income of such trust or institution, without giving effect to the provisions of sections 11 and 12, does not exceed rupees five crores during each of the two previous years, preceding the previous year in which such application is made, the provisions of this sub-section shall have effect as if for the words "five years", the words "ten years" had been substituted."
It was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions on 2025-04-01 and is reported as Finance Act, 2025 (Act No. 7 of 2025), w.e.f. 1 April 2025; Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024 (Act No. 15 of 2024), w.e.f. 1 October 2024. Binding on the department, not on the assessee or the courts. An assessee may rely on a circular that is beneficial to them. A CBDT circular or instruction binds officers of the department but not the assessee and not the courts. Where a circular helps you, you may hold the department to it. Where it hurts you, it cannot override the Act or a judgment. On section 12AB, section 12AB(1), section 12AB(2), section 12AB(3), section 12AB(4), section 12AB(5), section 12A, section 12A(1)(ac), section 80G(5), section 119, the practical question is whether the facts of your own notice match the facts of this case closely enough for the same rule to apply.
It cuts both ways and is cited by both sides. Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory text. Registration under s.12AB(1)(a) (an application under s.12A(1)(ac)(i)) and under s.12AB(1)(b)(ii)(A) (applications under sub-clauses (ii) to (v) and item (B) of sub-clause (vi)) runs five years; provisional registration under s.12AB(1)(c) runs three years from the assessment year from which registration is sought. The proviso to s.12AB(1), inserted by Act No. 7 of 2025 with effect from 1 April 2025, substitutes ten years for five, but only where the application is under sub-clauses (i) to (v) of s.12A(1)(ac) and total income computed without giving effect to ss.11 and 12 did not exceed rupees five crores in each of the two previous years preceding the previous year of application; because it works by substituting for the words "five years", it cannot touch the three-year provisional registration, and because it is confined to sub-clauses (i) to (v) it does not reach a first-time applicant under item (B) of sub-clause (vi), who takes five years however small he is. The proviso to s.12A(1)(ac), inserted by Act No. 15 of 2024 with effect from 1 October 2024, empowers the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner to condone a delay in filing an application under any of sub-clauses (i) to (vi) where he considers there is a reasonable cause, the application then being deemed filed within time. Cancellation under s.12AB(4) requires one of the seven specified violations exhaustively defined in clauses (a) to (g) of the Explanation and one of the three triggers in clauses (a) to (c), and the order must be passed within six months of the end of the quarter in which the first notice under clause (i) of that sub-section was issued on or after 1 April 2022. It arises in Charitable Trusts & Exemption, Capital Gains Exemptions and How Tax Law Is Read matters, on section 12AB, section 12AB(1), section 12AB(2), section 12AB(3), section 12AB(4), section 12AB(5), section 12A, section 12A(1)(ac), section 80G(5), section 119 of the Income Tax Act 1961, and was decided by Not applicable — statutory text. Before relying on it, read the source linked on this page and check whether it has since been distinguished, overruled or overtaken by an amendment to the Income Tax Act. In practice the steps that follow from it are these. Do not expect a ten-year Form 10AC — the proviso operates on sub-section (1) as a whole but only where the application is under sub-clauses (i) to (v), which are the five-year cases; a clause (c) provisional registration remains three years. For a late application for registration, invoke the proviso to s.12A(1)(ac) expressly and in writing, with the reasonable cause set out and supported; the application is deemed filed within time if the delay is condoned. For a late s.80G application, do not rely on that proviso — use clause (iv)(B) of the first proviso to s.80G(5) where activities have commenced. On a cancellation notice, first identify which of the seven specified violations in the Explanation to s.12AB(4) is alleged and which of the three triggers in clauses (a) to (c) is relied on; if neither is identified, the sub-section is not engaged. Diarise the s.12AB(5) limitation from the end of the quarter in which the first notice under s.12AB(4)(i) was issued, and check it before answering on the merits.
Still good law. The text was read on two independently year-stamped departmental pages, Year 2025 and Year 2026, both carrying the section heading "Procedure for fresh registration", and the two agree word for word on every provision quoted here; the amendment footnotes on the 2026 pages attribute the ten-year proviso to Act No. 7 of 2025 with effect from 1 April 2025 and the condonation proviso to Act No. 15 of 2024 with effect from 1 October 2024. The commencement of the condonation proviso is separately confirmed by three tribunal orders read for this batch. I did not check for any amendment made after the 2026 page was stamped, and I could not confirm from a departmental circular index that no extension circular later than Circular 7/2024 exists. No source could be cited for that finding. Checking whether an authority still stands matters as much as knowing what it held: a decision may be overruled on one point and survive on another, or the provision it interprets may have been amended since. Read the source and the editor's note on this page before relying on it in a reply to an Assessing Officer or in an appeal.
The statutory text was read on the departmental pages, with the section HEADING demanded alongside the "Year:" stamp on every fetch. /w/section-12ab-7 carries Year 2026 and the heading "Procedure for fresh registration"; /w/section-12ab-6 carries Year 2025 and the same heading, and the two agree word for word on the ten-year proviso, on sub-section (3), on sub-section (4) with its Explanation and on sub-section (5). Footnote 44 on the 2026 page reads "Ins. by Act No. 7 of 2025, w.e.f. 1-4-2025" and is attached to the ten-year proviso. /w/section-12a carries Year 2026 and the heading "Conditions for applicability of sections 11 and 12" — note that the archived pages for this section carry the older heading "Conditions as to registration of trusts, etc." — and its footnote 43 reads "Ins. by Act No. 15 of 2024, w.e.f. 1-10-2024", attaching to the proviso permitting condonation. Two decoys were caught on this build and are recorded so a later pass does not repeat them: /w/section-12a-60 returns section 12A of the GIFT-TAX ACT, 1958, heading "Power of Chief Commissioner or Commissioner and of Joint Commissioner to make enquiries under this Act"; /w/section-12a-65 returns section 12A of the PREVENTION OF MONEY LAUNDERING ACT, 2002, heading "Access to information", with no year stamp at all; and /w/section-12a-70 returns section 12A of the WEALTH-TAX ACT, 1957, heading "Appointment of Valuation Officers". I could not open CBDT Circular No. 7 of 2024 itself: incometaxindia.gov.in/communications/circular/circular-no-7-2024.pdf returns 404. Its content is taken from two independent judicial reproductions — clause 3(ii), extending Form 10AB to 30.06.2024, reproduced in the CIT(E)'s order at para 4.3 of Sri Sastha Charitable Trust (ITAT Chennai, ITA No.839/CHNY/2025, 3 September 2025), and clause 4.1, permitting a fresh Form 10AB by 30.06.2024 where an earlier one was rejected solely for lateness or a wrong section code, reproduced by the Calcutta High Court in CIT (Exemptions) v West Bengal Welfare Society (ITAT/77/2024, 26 April 2024). I could not open any departmental index of circulars, so I cannot prove that Circular 7/2024 is the last extension circular — it is the last one I could verify, and no later extension appears in any of the eleven orders read for this batch, the most recent of which was pronounced in August 2026. Departmental RULE pages carry no year stamp, so rule 17A and rule 11AA are not dated here and no vintage is claimed for them. This is a statutory entry, not a decision. 'tier' is set to 'cbdt' because the library's fixed tier vocabulary has no value for a statutory entry, and the source is the Income-tax Department's own section pages, not a Board circular. The date in 'decided_on' is a commencement date, not a decision date: 1 April 2025, the date from which the ten-year proviso to s.12AB(1) takes effect under Act No. 7 of 2025. The other amendment described here, the condonation proviso to s.12A(1)(ac) inserted by Act No. 15 of 2024, commenced earlier, on 1 October 2024. The live departmental page for s.80G is /w/section-80g-61 (Year 2026, heading "Deduction in respect of donations to certain funds, charitable institutions, etc"); the bare /w/section-80g is a Year 2000 archive, and -7, -20, -30 and -60 are archives of 2003, 1997, 1985 and 2019 (No. 1) respectively, while -62, -63, -65, -66, -69 and -70 return 404. This library shows the verification state of every entry openly. This entry has not yet been read in full by a chartered accountant. The summary reflects the sources listed on this page. Read the source before you rely on it in a reply to an Assessing Officer or in an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) or the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory text. Registration under s.12AB(1)(a) (an application under s.12A(1)(ac)(i)) and under s.12AB(1)(b)(ii)(A) (applications under sub-clauses (ii) to (v) and item (B) of sub-clause (vi)) runs five years; provisional registration under s.12AB(1)(c) runs three years from the assessment year from which registration is sought. The proviso to s.12AB(1), inserted by Act No. 7 of 2025 with effect from 1 April 2025, substitutes ten years for five, but only where the application is under sub-clauses (i) to (v) of s.12A(1)(ac) and total income computed without giving effect to ss.11 and 12 did not exceed rupees five crores in each of the two previous years preceding the previous year of application; because it works by substituting for the words "five years", it cannot touch the three-year provisional registration, and because it is confined to sub-clauses (i) to (v) it does not reach a first-time applicant under item (B) of sub-clause (vi), who takes five years however small he is. The proviso to s.12A(1)(ac), inserted by Act No. 15 of 2024 with effect from 1 October 2024, empowers the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner to condone a delay in filing an application under any of sub-clauses (i) to (vi) where he considers there is a reasonable cause, the application then being deemed filed within time. Cancellation under s.12AB(4) requires one of the seven specified violations exhaustively defined in clauses (a) to (g) of the Explanation and one of the three triggers in clauses (a) to (c), and the order must be passed within six months of the end of the quarter in which the first notice under clause (i) of that sub-section was issued on or after 1 April 2022.
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We charge fees for our public utility work. Does that cost us charitable status under s.2(15)?
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