Circular No. 7

537. Submission of certificate for claiming deductions under section 80G in respect of donations made by an employee to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and the Lieutenant Governor’s Relief Fund

What this is

Circular No. 7 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 21 March 2001. Its subject is 537. Submission of certificate for claiming deductions under section 80G in respect of donations made by an employee to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and the Lieutenant Governor’s Relief Fund.

What it does

Lets an employee claim the section 80G deduction on a relief fund donation made through his employer on the strength of the employer's certificate alone. Where employees of the Central Government, State Governments, public sector undertakings, private sector companies and corporations and local authorities donate to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund, a Chief Minister's Relief Fund or the Lieutenant Governor's Relief Fund through their employer, the money goes to the fund as one consolidated cheque and no individual receipt is available. The Board clarifies that the claim is admissible under section 80G on the basis of the certificate issued by the drawing and disbursing officer or the employer.

Why it was issued

After unforeseen national calamities of immense magnitude such as the Gujarat earthquake, employees were donating to these funds through their employers, and it was not possible for each of them to obtain a separate certificate for a consolidated contribution.

Who it reaches

Employees donating to relief funds through payroll deduction
Employers and drawing and disbursing officers collecting and remitting the donations
Assessing Officers testing a section 80G claim without a fund receipt

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.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.

537. Submission of certificate for claiming deductions under section 80G in respect of donations made by an employee to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and the Lieutenant Governor’s Relief Fund
In view of the occurrence of unforeseen national calamities of immense magnitude like the Gujarat earthquake employees of the Central Government, State Government, Public Sector Undertakings, Private Sector Companies and Corporations, and local authorities are making donations to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund or the Lieutenant Governor’s Relief Fund through their respective employers/organisations. An employee who is making such donations towards these funds is eligible to claim deduction under section 80G of the Income-tax Act, 1961. However, it may not be possible for every employee to obtain separate certificates in respect of donations made to such funds since the contributions made to these funds will be in the form of a consolidated cheque. It is hereby, clarified that the claim in respect of such donations as indicated above will be admissible under section 80G of the Income-tax Act, 1961 on the basis of the certificate issued by the DDO/Employer in this behalf.
Circular : No. 7/2001, dated 21-3-2001.

What to watch

The employer's certificate is a substitute for the fund's receipt, not for the donation itself; the certificate must identify the employee's contribution.
The clarification names three funds, the Prime Minister's, the Chief Minister's and the Lieutenant Governor's relief funds; it does not extend to donations to other institutions collected through an employer.
The rate and ceiling of the section 80G deduction depend on the fund donated to and are not altered by this circular.
The manner of claiming and reporting section 80G donations has changed with the move to reporting by the donee institution, so check the current requirement for a live year.

Where you meet it

In a salaried employee's return or a scrutiny where a section 80G claim is questioned 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.

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
Notification No. 36/2021 [F. No. 176/1/2021/ITA-I]/SO 1698(E) — 2 the Gazette of INDIA : Extraordinary [Part Ii—sec. 3(ii)] 23 April 2021

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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.