Section 12AB(4)

Section 12AB(4) — the law in short

What the courts have decided on section 12AB(4), in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.

• Pavai Varam Educational Trust v PCIT (Central), Chennai ITATHelps taxpayerNo later treatment found
  The PCIT cancelled my registration under s.12AB(4) for a specified violation resting entirely on an addition made in assessment. The Tribunal has since deleted that addition. Does the cancellation survive?
  No. Where the order under s.12AB(4) is founded entirely on the outcome of another proceeding, its fate depends on the sustainability of that foundational finding; once the Tribunal reversed the quantum findings on which the alleged specified violation rested, the cancellation could not survive independently. The Tribunal set aside the cancellation and directed restoration of the registration.
• JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation v CIT (Exemption), Mumbai ITATHelps taxpayerNo later treatment found
  The CIT(E) refused my Form 10AB because the memorandum says the objects may be carried out in India 'and elsewhere'. Is a possible application of funds outside India a ground to refuse registration?
  No. What the Commissioner has to satisfy himself about at the registration stage under s.12AB(1)(b) is the objects of the trust, the genuineness of its activities and compliance with other laws material to achieving its objects. Whether income has actually been applied within or outside India is a question that arises only when exemption under s.11 is claimed, and refusing registration on that ground is premature.
• Haji Pir Mohmad Yusuf Waqf v CIT (Exemption), Ahmedabad ITATHelps departmentNo later treatment found
  The CIT(E) has rejected my Form 10AB and cancelled my provisional registration on the ground that my objects benefit only one religious community. What is the Revenue's case and how does it succeed?
  It succeeds where the objects on their face are confined to one community and the trust files no evidence that it has not incurred expenditure on those objects. The Tribunal dismissed the appeal, finding no infirmity in an order which rejected the Form 10AB application under s.12A(1)(ac)(iii) and cancelled the provisional registration on the footing of a specified violation under clause (d) of the Explanation to s.12AB(4).
• CMR Engineering Educational Society v DCIT ITATHelps taxpayerNo later treatment found
  After a search the PCIT (Central) has cancelled my society's registration under s.12AB(4) for a 'specified violation', relying on loose sheets and statements. Does he have to prove one of the listed violations, or is a general finding of misuse enough?
  He has to prove one of the listed violations. Section 12AB(4) as amended by the Finance Act 2022 is not a general power to withdraw registration: cancellation can follow only on the occurrence of one or more of the 'specified violations' defined in the Explanation to that sub-section, and the onus of establishing that occurrence lies on the Department. Suspicion, however strong, will not do.
• Hemkunt Foundations v PCIT ITATHelps taxpayerNo later treatment found
  The PCIT cancelled our 12A registration after a survey. Was he even allowed to do that?
  No, on both counts here. Authority to grant or cancel registration under s.12AB lies with the CIT (Exemption), not the Principal Commissioner, and the 'specified violation' clause in s.12AB(4) took effect on 1 April 2022, so it cannot be applied to conduct in financial year 2020-21 or 2021-22.
• Statutory position — s.12AB registration periods, the Finance Act 2025 ten-year proviso for small trusts, and the Finance (No. 2) Act 2024 power to condone a late application CBDT Circulars & InstructionsCuts both ways
  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.

Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.