The Income Tax department extended the deadline on Thursday, June 30, for religious and benevolent trusts to submit registration applications to the tax authorities. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) stated in a circular dated April 25, 2024, that the deadline for submitting Form 10A/ Form 10AB under the Income-tax Act, 1961 is now June 30.

The deadline for submitting Forms 10A and 10AB was previously extended by the tax department to September 30, 2023. The government had previously repeatedly extended the deadline for trusts, institutions, and funds to file Form 10A/Form 10AB in order to alleviate legitimate challenges experienced by the taxpayers.

The CBDT said in a statement that it has extended the deadline for filing Form 10A/Form 10AB up to June 30, 2024, in respect of certain provisions of section 10(23C)/ section 12A/ section 80G/ and section 35 of the Act. This decision was made in light of the representations it received from taxpayers asking for a further extension of the due date for filing such forms beyond the last extended date of September 30, 2023, and in an effort to prevent actual hardships for taxpayers.

CBDT went on to clarify that any existing trust, institution, or fund that had not submitted Form 10A for AY 2022–23 by the extended deadline and had instead applied for provisional registration as a new entity and received Form 10AC may now take advantage of this opportunity to turn in the aforementioned Form 10AC and submit an application in Form 10A until June 30, 2024, in order to register for AY 2022–23 as an existing trust, institution, or fund.

Furthermore, it is made clear that trusts, institutions, or funds whose re-registration applications were turned down only because they filed too late or under the incorrect section code may still submit a new application in Form 10AB by the previously mentioned extended deadline of June 30, 2024.

Applications in accordance with Forms 10A and 10AB must be electronically submitted using the Income Tax Department's e-filing system.