Your 12AB Registration Carries Over to the Income-tax Act, 2025

If your trust, society or section 8 company holds a valid registration under section 12A, 12AA or 12AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961, you do not have to apply again to be recognised under the Income-tax Act, 2025. The new Act does not ask you to re-register. It reaches back and counts the registration you already hold.

That is not a comfortable reading of the statute. It is what two definitions in section 355 say, reinforced by the savings clause in section 536. The real work for trustees lies elsewhere: in the renewal window, and in the separate track that carries your donors' deduction.

The Income-tax Act, 2025, No. 30 of 2025, received the assent of the President on 21 August 2025 and was published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary, Part II Section 1, No. 35. Section 1(3) says that, save as otherwise provided in the Act, it shall come into force on the 1st April, 2026.

Read the first two rows together and the answer falls out of the drafting. Section 355(m) does not create a new category and leave your old registration stranded outside it. It writes the old sections into the new definition. Your 12AB order is the very thing the 2025 Act looks for.

There is no ambiguity to hide behind. Section 536(1) states, in five words, that the Income-tax Act, 1961 is hereby repealed.

What follows in section 536(2) is why that repeal does not knock out your registration. The sub-section opens with the words irrespective of the repeal, then runs through a long list of things the repeal does not disturb. Two entries matter to a charity:

• Clauses (a) and (b): nothing shall affect the previous operation of the repealed Act and orders or anything duly done or suffered thereunder, or any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred under it.
• Clause (j): any agreement entered into, appointment made, approval given, recognition granted, circular, direction, instruction, notification, order or rule or any scheme framed therein issued under any provision of the repealed Act shall, so far as it is not inconsistent with the corresponding provisions of this Act, be deemed to have been entered into, made, granted, given or issued under the corresponding provision of this Act and shall continue in force accordingly.

Clause (j) carries a qualifier that deserves reading twice: so far as it is not inconsistent with the corresponding provisions of this Act. It is a deeming provision with a compatibility condition attached, not a blanket transfer.

So two independent reasons keep your registration alive: the definitional route in section 355(m) and (g), which does not depend on section 536 at all, and the deeming route in section 536(2)(j). An NGO does not have to choose between them.

This is the part that matters to anyone who issues 80G receipts. The 2025 Act keeps two distinct defined terms. Section 355(f) says registration includes provisional registration, provisional approval or approval as referred to in the second proviso to section 10(23C) or 12AB(1) of the 1961 Act and under section 332, but shall not include approval under the second proviso to section 80G(5) of the said Act or section 354.

That exclusion is easy to misread as bad news. It is not. Read section 355(b), one clause earlier: approval means an approval under the second proviso to section 80G(5) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 or section 354. The Act does for 80G exactly what it does for 12AB, naming the 1961 provision as a live definitional input and giving it its own term. Section 355(f) pushes 80G out of the word registration precisely because 80G already has a defined word of its own.

The two do run on separate rails, with separate sections, applications and expiry dates. One wrinkle is worth stating plainly.

Section 355 opens with the words for the purposes of this Part, which is Part B of Chapter XVII, sections 332 to 355. The donor's deduction does not live there. It lives in section 133, which allows a deduction of 50% of the aggregate sums paid as donation by an assessee during the tax year to any fund or institution to which the section applies, if:

1. (A) it is established in India for a charitable purpose; and
2. (B) it is a registered non-profit organisation or an institution or fund mentioned in Schedule VII, Table Sl. No. 1, and approved under section 354.

Clause (B) names section 354. It does not name the second proviso to section 80G(5). For an existing 80G holder, the bridge into section 133 therefore runs through the deeming words of section 536(2)(j), which treat an approval given under the repealed Act as granted under the corresponding provision, so far as it is not inconsistent.

Note also section 133(2), which ignores so much of the qualifying donations under section 133(1)(b)(ii) to (vi) as exceeds 10% of the adjusted gross total income. Your donors face a ceiling written into the section itself.

Here is where trustees will lose money, and it has nothing to do with re-registration. Section 332(3) sets out a Table of seven cases, each with its own filing window, order deadline and validity period.

Before reading the row, note how you land in it. Column B of serial numbers 1 and 2 confines those two rows to an applicant that has not been registered under any specified provision at any time before making the application. Since section 355(m) makes section 12A, 12AA and 12AB of the 1961 Act specified provisions, a current 12AB holder is outside rows 1 and 2 by the Table's own words. Serial number 4 takes the provisional cases. What is left for an ordinary registration due to expire is serial number 5, and section 536(2)(j) independently deems your existing order to have been made under the corresponding provision of the new Act.

Serial number 3 requires an application within six months of the commencement of activities where a provisional registration is held, and serial number 7 gives thirty days from adopting or modifying objects that do not conform to the conditions of registration.

Three further sub-sections change the picture materially.

• Section 332(4) is your safety net, and it is discretionary. Where the application is made beyond the time allowed in column C, the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner may, if he considers that there is a reasonable cause for the delay, condone it, and the application shall be deemed to have been made within time. May, not shall.
• Section 332(5) is a real concession for smaller charities. Where the application is made under Table Sl. Nos. 3 to 7, and the total income of the applicant, without giving effect to the provisions of that Part, does not exceed five crore rupees during each of the two tax years preceding the tax year of application, then in columns 3.E to 7.E the words five years have effect as if ten years had been substituted. A smaller organisation renews once a decade, not once every five years.
• Section 332(6) is the penalty for missing the window. If an application is not made within the time specified in Table Sl. No. 3.C, 4.C, 5.C or 7.C, and the delay is not condoned under sub-section (4), such person shall be liable to pay tax on accreted income under section 352.

Section 354(2) mirrors all of this on the approval side. Its Table Sl. No. 5 covers the case where the period for approval of a registered non-profit organisation is due to expire, again requiring the application at least six months prior to the expiry of the said approval, with validity of five tax years following the tax year of application.

Section 352 is what section 332(6) points you at, and it is not a small penalty. Under section 352(1), every specified person shall, in addition to the income-tax chargeable on his total income, be liable to pay additional income-tax on accreted income at the maximum marginal rate in any of the cases specified in column B of the Table in sub-section (4).

Section 352(2) gives the formula: A equals B minus C, where A is accreted income, B is the aggregate fair market value of the total assets on the specified date, and C is the total liability on that date, each computed by such method of valuation as may be prescribed. Section 352(3) reduces that figure by so much of it as is attributable to specified assets and related liabilities.

This is a tax on the corpus, not on a year's surplus. For an organisation that spent two decades accumulating a building or an endowment, the number is not comparable to an ordinary tax demand. Two details give it a longer reach than trustees assume.

The first is who it applies to. Section 355(l) defines specified person as any person which is registered under any specified provision at any time since its incorporation or creation. Not currently registered. At any time since creation. An organisation whose registration lapsed years ago is still a specified person.

The second is the interest. Section 352(4) requires payment within fourteen days from the due date in column D of the Table. Section 352(6) then runs interest on the formula I equals 1% of T multiplied by P, where T is the tax on accreted income and P is the number of months from immediately after the last date for payment until the date it is actually paid, including part of a month.

Being precise about the gaps matters as much as being precise about the text. Section 332(1) does not prescribe a form. It says in such form and manner, as may be prescribed. Section 354(1) uses the same words for an approval, and section 352(2) leaves the method of valuation to be prescribed.

So there is no form number, no fee and no transition deadline in the statute, because the statute does not contain one. Anything that supplies a form number or a re-registration cut-off date for existing 12AB holders is not coming from the Act. Check its source before you act on it.

An illustration, not a real matter. Suppose a registered public trust holds a 12AB registration whose validity runs out during the tax year 2027-28. Working only from the statute, this is what the calendar looks like.

1. Now. Locate the 12AB order and read the validity period off it. Column C of Table Sl. No. 5 counts backwards from that expiry date, so the date on the order is the only date that matters. Pull the 80G approval order out separately: its date is usually different, and section 354 treats it as its own application.
2. Now. Check total income, computed without giving effect to Part B, for each of the two tax years preceding the year of application. If neither exceeds five crore rupees, section 332(5) turns five years into ten.
3. Now. Start a related-person register. Section 355(h) brings in the author or founder, trustees and managers by whatever name called, their relatives, and any person whose contribution in the tax year exceeds ₹100000 or in aggregate exceeds ten lakh rupees. Reconstructing that list later from receipts is far harder than maintaining it.
4. Seven months before expiry. Confirm the prescribed form and manner. If the rules are not public, file the RTI application below rather than wait.
5. At least six months before expiry. File. Section 332(6) attaches the accreted income consequence to a missed window, and section 332(4) makes condonation discretionary, not automatic.

The forms, the transition machinery and any instruction issued to Principal Commissioners are all questions of fact, answerable under the RTI Act, 2005.

To,
The Central Public Information Officer,
Central Board of Direct Taxes,
Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance,
North Block, New Delhi 110001.

Subject: Information under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005 regarding
registration and approval of non-profit organisations under the
Income-tax Act, 2025.

Sir/Madam,

Under Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, please provide:

1. A copy of the rules prescribing the form and manner of an application
   for registration under Section 332(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, with
   the number and date of the notification by which they were made. If no
   such rules have been notified as on the date of this application, please
   state that fact.

2. A copy of the rules prescribing the form and manner of an application
   for approval under Section 354(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, with the
   number and date of the notification. If none has been notified, please
   state that fact.

3. Copies of every circular, instruction, office memorandum or direction
   issued to Principal Commissioners or Commissioners on the treatment,
   on and after 1 April 2026, of registrations subsisting under Section
   12A, 12AA or 12AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

4. Copies of every circular, instruction, office memorandum or direction
   on the treatment, on and after 1 April 2026, of approvals subsisting
   under the second proviso to Section 80G(5) of the Income-tax Act, 1961,
   including whether such an approval is treated as an approval under
   Section 354 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 by virtue of Section 536(2)(j).

5. Whether any fresh application is required from an organisation holding
   a valid and uncancelled registration under Section 12AB of the
   Income-tax Act, 1961 in order to be treated as a registered non-profit
   organisation under Section 355(g) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, and a
   copy of the file noting or order on which that position rests.

6. A copy of the method of valuation prescribed under Section 352(2) of
   the Income-tax Act, 2025 for computing the fair market value of total
   assets and the total liability, with the notification number and date.

I enclose the prescribed application fee of Rs. 10. If any part of this
information is held by another public authority, please transfer that part
under Section 6(3) within five days. Please supply the information within
the period fixed by Section 7(1).

Yours faithfully,
[Name]
[Full postal address]
[Date]

Points 4 and 5 convert this page from a reading of the statute into a documented answer for your own organisation. Build the application with the AI RTI Drafter, set the thirty-day clock with the Timeline Tracker, and if the reply arrives worded to say nothing, run it through the PIO Reply Checker before you accept it. If the deadline passes with no reply, the First Appeal Builder takes it to the First Appellate Authority.

Not for the status itself. Section 355(m) makes section 12A, 12AA and 12AB and section 10(23C) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 each a specified provision. Section 355(g) defines a registered non-profit organisation as any person having a valid registration under any specified provision that has not been cancelled. A live 12AB registration meets that definition without any fresh application.

Section 1(3) says that, save as otherwise provided in the Act, it shall come into force on the 1st April, 2026. Section 1(2) extends it to the whole of India.

Yes. Section 536(1) says the Income-tax Act, 1961 is hereby repealed. But the 2025 Act keeps referring to it: sections 355(m) and 355(b) name provisions of the 1961 Act as definitional inputs, and section 536(2) preserves the previous operation of the repealed Act, accrued rights and obligations, and pending proceedings. Repealed is not the same as erased.

The Act treats registration and approval as two separate defined terms. Section 355(b) defines approval as an approval under the second proviso to section 80G(5) of the 1961 Act or section 354. Section 355(f) excludes 80G approval from the word registration for the purposes of Part B. Section 133(1)(b)(ii)(B), which governs the donor's 50% deduction, requires the institution to be a registered non-profit organisation approved under section 354. Section 536(2)(j) deems approvals given under the repealed Act to be granted under the corresponding provision, so far as not inconsistent. The form and manner of an application under section 354 is left to rules. Ask in writing rather than assume.

Section 332(3), Table Sl. No. 5 requires an application at least six months prior to the expiry of the registration where it is due to expire. The officer must pass an order within six months from the end of the quarter in which the application is made, and the fresh registration is valid for five tax years following the tax year in which the application is made.

Possibly not. Section 332(5) provides that where the application is made under Table Sl. Nos. 3 to 7, and the total income of the applicant, computed without giving effect to the provisions of that Part, does not exceed five crore rupees during each of the two tax years preceding the tax year of application, the words five years in columns 3.E to 7.E have effect as if ten years had been substituted.

Section 332(4) allows the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner to condone the delay if he considers there is a reasonable cause, in which case the application is deemed made within time. That is discretionary. Section 332(6) provides that if the application is not made in time under Table Sl. No. 3.C, 4.C, 5.C or 7.C and the delay is not condoned, the person shall be liable to pay tax on accreted income under section 352.

Read section 355(l) before assuming so. Specified person means any person which is registered under any specified provision at any time since its incorporation or creation. Section 352(1) fixes liability on a specified person to pay additional income-tax on accreted income at the maximum marginal rate in the cases specified in the Table in section 352(4). There is a route back. Section 332(9) provides that where a registration granted prior to the 1st April, 2021 under a specified provision of the 1961 Act has expired and the person applies under this Part, the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner may, on reasonable cause, condone the delay and grant registration within three months from the end of the month of application, valid for five years from the commencement of the tax year 2021-2022.

• The Income-tax Act, 2025, Act 30 of 2025, published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary, Part II Section 1, No. 35, 21 August 2025: egazette.gov.in
• Sections 1, 133, 332, 352, 354, 355 and 536 of that Act, quoted above from the gazette text
• Right to Information Act, 2005: full text on RTI Wiki

• The RTI Playbook, the full method from application to second appeal
• AI RTI Drafter to build the application above
• Timeline Tracker for the thirty-day clock under section 7(1)
• PIO Reply Checker to test a reply that answers nothing
• First Appeal Builder if the CPIO misses the deadline
• RTI Act, 2005, full text

Reviewed by Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak. Last verified against the Gazette of India text of the Income-tax Act, 2025 on 31 August 2026.