Circular No. 2/2005

What it does

Allows an employee who donates to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund, a Chief Minister's Relief Fund or a Lieutenant Governor's Relief Fund through his employer to claim the section 80G deduction on the strength of a certificate issued by the Drawing and Disbursing Officer or employer. No certificate from the fund itself is needed. A press note of the same date carries the same clarification to the public.

Why it was issued

Employer-routed donations reach these funds as a single consolidated cheque, so the funds cannot issue a separate receipt to each contributing employee.

Who it reaches

Salaried employees donating to relief funds through payroll deduction
Drawing and Disbursing Officers and employer payroll departments
Assessing Officers examining an 80G claim unsupported by 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.

CIRCULAR
INCOME-TAX ACT
Submission of certificate for claiming deductions under section 80G of the Income-tax Act, 1961 in respect of donation 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
CIRCULAR NO. 2/2005, DATED 12-1-2005
In cases where employees make donations to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund or the Lieutenant Governor’s Relief Fund through their respective employers, it is not possible for such funds to issue separate certificate to every such employee in respect of donations made to such funds as contributions made to these funds are in the form of a consolidated cheque. An employee who makes donations towards these funds is eligible to claim deduction under section 80G of the Income-tax Act, 1961. 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 Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO)/ Employer in this behalf.
PRESS NOTE, DATED 12-1-2005
As per Circular No. 2/2005, dated 12th January, 2005, issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, it has been clarified that in cases where employees make donations to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund or the Lieutenant Governor’s Relief Fund through their respective employers, the claim in respect of such donations will also be admissible under section 80G of the Income-tax Act, 1961 on the basis of the certificate issued by the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO)/Employer in this behalf.

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What to watch

The concession is limited to the three named funds; a consolidated employer cheque to any other institution is not covered by this text.
The proof is the DDO's or employer's certificate, so the employee must actually obtain and retain it.
The circular says nothing about the quantum or the qualifying limit under section 80G; only about the evidence.
Later instructions on employer-collected donations and on Form No. 16 reporting have been issued; check the current position on what the employer may itself allow while deducting under section 192.

Where you meet it

On scrutiny of an 80G claim, or when an employee asks payroll for proof of a relief fund contribution made by salary deduction.

What it names

It mentions. Circular No. 2/2005

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

← Circular No. 3/2005 · Circular No. 1/2005 →

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.

What this is