Circular No. 178

528. Donation to Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund [sub-clause (iiia) of clause (a) of sub-section (2)] - Money order coupons to be treated as sufficient evidence of donation

What this is

Circular No. 178 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 23 September 1975. Its subject is 528. Donation to Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund [sub-clause (iiia) of clause (a) of sub-section (2)] - Money order coupons to be treated as sufficient evidence of donation.

This grants an exemption or a relief under a provision that allows one. Read the conditions attached: an exemption notification is construed strictly, and a condition missed is the exemption lost.

What it does

Allows a money order coupon to serve as proof of a donation to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund for the deduction under section 80G. Money orders addressed to the Fund had been exempted from money order commission, and many donors used that facility. The Board directs that in such cases the money order coupon duly receipted by the Confidential Assistant-cum-Accounts Officer, Prime Minister's Secretariat, be treated as sufficient evidence that the donation was made.

Why it was issued

A large number of people had taken advantage of the commission-free money order facility to send contributions, and their proof of payment was the coupon rather than a receipt from the Fund.

Who it reaches

Donors who remitted to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund by money order
Assessing Officers verifying section 80G claims
Employers allowing the deduction while computing salary tax

The provisions it speaks to

Left, the provision of the Income-tax Act, 1961 as the instrument itself names it. Right, the section of the Income-tax Act, 2025 that the department’s own concordance maps it to — which is where the same ground is now covered.

Under the 1961 Act	Now
s.8OG	no counterpart recorded
s.80G	s.133, s.332, s.354

The instrument, as the Board published it

The words below are the department’s own, reproduced from its published text. Where the department’s copy carried a publisher’s notes after the instrument, those are not reproduced.

528. Donation to Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund [sub-clause (iiia) of clause (a) of sub-section (2)] - Money order coupons to be treated as sufficient evidence of donation
Under the provisions of section 8OG deduction is allowable as spelt out in the said section on the sums paid by an assessee to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. With a view to helping the donors to remit amounts of the donations to the Fund, the money orders addressed to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund have been exempted from payment of money order commission. Taking the advantage of this facility a large number of persons have sent their contributions to the fund through money orders. In the cases of persons who have sent their donations through the money orders, the money order coupons duly receipted by the Confidential Assistant-cum-Accounts Officer, Prime Minister’s Secretariat, may be treated as sufficient evidence of the donations having been made to the fund for purposes of allowing deduction under section 80G.
Circular : No. 178 [F. No. 176/82/75-IT(A-I)], dated 23-9-1975.

What to watch

The coupon must carry the receipt of the Confidential Assistant-cum-Accounts Officer, Prime Minister's Secretariat; an unreceipted counterfoil will not do.
The concession is about proof only; the quantum of deduction is still governed by section 80G itself.
It is confined to donations to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund sent by money order.
The heading and the text spell the section differently because of a scanning error; the provision is section 80G.

Where you meet it

In an assessment where a section 80G claim is disallowed for want of a receipt from the Fund.

On the same provision

Other instruments in this library that name the same provision of the 1961 Act. They are not necessarily still operative, and a later one may have replaced an earlier one without saying so.

Notification No. 96 — Sri Sri Sarbomangala Trust Board specified under section 8OG 30 April 2003
Circular No. 6/2026 — Condonation of delay in filing Form No. 10AB electronically for approval under clause(ii) of the first proviso to sectio 2 July 2026
Notification No. 166/2025 [F. No. 300176/2/2025/ITA-I] / SO 5551(E) — Minstry of Finance 2 December 2025
Notification No. 40/2024 [F. No. 176/2/2023-ITA-I] / SO 1771(E) — 2 the Gazette of INDIA : Extraordinary [Part Ii—sec. 3(ii)] 23 April 2024
Notification No. 34/2023 [F. No. 370142/13/2023-TPL] / GSR 399(E) — Ministry of Finance 30 May 2023
Notification No. 29/2022 [F. No.176/2/2022-ITA-I] / SO 1770(E) — 2 the Gazette of INDIA : Extraordinary [Part Ii—sec. 3(ii)] 11 April 2022

← Circular No. 179 · Circular No. 177 →

A circular binds the department, not you and not a court. The Board issues a circular to its own officers. An assessee may hold the department to a circular that helps him; the department cannot hold an assessee to one that hurts him, and the Tribunal and the courts decide the law for themselves.

Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.