Form 10BD Filing Guide for Temple Trusts and NGOs (FY 2025-26)

Before the Finance Act 2021, an 80G receipt was enough. A donor received a printed receipt, attached it to their tax return, and claimed the deduction. Simple.

That changed completely from FY 2021-22 onwards. The Income Tax department introduced Form 10BD — a mandatory annual statement that every 80G-registered institution must file — and Form 10BE, the official donation certificate that replaces the old paper receipt as the primary document for claiming deductions.

If your temple, trust or NGO accepted donations in FY 2025-26 and is registered under Section 80G, you must file Form 10BD by 31st May 2026. Missing this filing is not a minor oversight. It has direct consequences for your donors and for your institution's tax-exempt status.

This guide covers everything your committee needs to know.

What is Form 10BD?

Form 10BD is an annual statement of donations received by a charitable institution during the financial year. It must be filed electronically on the Income Tax e-filing portal by every institution that holds a valid 80G registration.

The form is essentially a donor-wise list: for each person or entity that donated during the year, you report their name, PAN, address, donation amount, donation mode and whether it was a corpus or general donation.

Once filed, the IT portal automatically generates Form 10BE — a standardised donation certificate for each donor. This certificate is what your donors need to claim their Section 80G deduction. The old printed receipt is now a supplementary document only.

Who must file Form 10BD?

Any institution that meets all three of the following conditions must file:

1. Holds a valid registration under Section 80G(5) of the Income Tax Act
2. Received one or more donations during the financial year that qualify for 80G deduction
3. Is registered under Section 12A, 12AB, 10(23C) or any other applicable provision

This covers Hindu temples, Jain temples, Sikh gurdwaras, church trusts, charitable trusts, NGOs, Section 8 companies and any other religious or charitable institution with 80G registration.

Institutions that do not need to file Form 10BD:

• Institutions without active 80G registration
• Institutions that received zero donations qualifying for 80G in the year
• Government funds like PM CARES (these operate under separate provisions)

The filing deadline

Form 10BD must be filed by 31st May of the year immediately following the financial year.

| Financial Year | Filing Deadline | |---|---| | FY 2024-25 (Apr 2024 – Mar 2025) | 31 May 2025 | | FY 2025-26 (Apr 2025 – Mar 2026) | 31 May 2026 | | FY 2026-27 (Apr 2026 – Mar 2027) | 31 May 2027 |

What Form 10BE is, and when to issue it

Form 10BE is the standardised donation certificate that the IT portal generates automatically after your Form 10BD is filed and accepted. You do not design or print Form 10BE — the portal generates it for each donor.

You must issue Form 10BE to each donor by 31st May of the following year — the same deadline as the filing. This means:

1. File Form 10BD on the portal
2. Download the auto-generated Form 10BE for each donor
3. Send each donor their Form 10BE by 31st May

Donors need Form 10BE to attach to their ITR filing. If you file Form 10BD late, donors who file their returns before you do cannot claim the deduction that year.

Mandatory fields in Form 10BD

The form requires the following information for every donor:

Institution details

• Name, PAN and address of your institution
• Your 80G registration number
• Financial year for which the statement is filed

Donor-level details (one row per donor)

• Donor's full name — as per PAN records
• Donor's PAN — mandatory; without PAN, the deduction is restricted to 50% of the donated amount under some provisions
• Donor's address — complete address including PIN
• Donation amount — in figures
• Mode of donation — cash (note: cash above ₹2,000 does not qualify), cheque, DD, UPI, NEFT/RTGS
• Nature of donation — corpus or non-corpus (general)
• Section under which deduction is claimed — typically 80G(2)(a)(iv) for most temple trusts

Donations in kind

Donations of gold, jewellery, property or other assets must also be reported. The valuation must be supported by a registered valuer's certificate.

How to file Form 10BD on the IT portal

Filing is done on the Income Tax e-filing portal (incometax.gov.in) using your institution's login. You must use a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) or Electronic Verification Code (EVC) to submit.

Step-by-step process:

1. Log in to incometax.gov.in with your institution's PAN and password
2. Navigate to: e-File → Income Tax Forms → File Income Tax Forms
3. Search for and select Form 10BD
4. Select the financial year for which you are filing
5. Enter institution details on the first screen
6. In the donor table, add each donor's details row by row (or upload a CSV for bulk entry)
7. Verify all entries — check that PAN numbers are correct before submitting
8. Submit using DSC or EVC
9. After acceptance, download Form 10BE for each donor from the portal
10. Share Form 10BE with each donor before 31st May

The CSV upload option is critical for institutions with many donors. The portal accepts a specific CSV format — download the template from the portal, fill it in, and upload. This is far faster than manual row-by-row entry.

Consequences of not filing or filing late

The Income Tax Act prescribes penalties for non-compliance.

Late filing fee under Section 234G: A fee of ₹200 per day applies for every day of delay in filing Form 10BD after the 31st May deadline.

Consequences for your institution:

• Your 80G registration can be cancelled if you habitually fail to file
• Donors may raise complaints to the IT department, triggering scrutiny of your institution
• In an audit, unfiled Form 10BD for a year where you issued 80G receipts is a serious discrepancy

Consequences for your donors:

• Cannot claim the 80G deduction for donations made to your institution that year
• If they have already filed their return claiming the deduction, they may receive a notice

The most common Form 10BD errors — and how to avoid them

1. Wrong PAN for donors The most frequent error. If a donor's PAN on the receipt does not match the PAN in the IT database, the portal rejects that row. Always verify PAN at the time of accepting the donation — not after.

2. Including cash donations above ₹2,000 Any cash donation above ₹2,000 must be excluded from the 80G-qualifying section of Form 10BD. Issue a regular receipt for these, not an 80G certificate.

3. Missing donations from the statement Some committees only include donations above a certain threshold. All qualifying donations must be included regardless of amount.

4. Filing for the wrong financial year If you are filing in May 2026 for FY 2025-26, ensure the form is for the April 2025 to March 2026 period — not the current year.

5. Not issuing Form 10BE to donors Filing Form 10BD without distributing Form 10BE to donors defeats the purpose. Build a process to send certificates immediately after filing.

How this connects to your receipt management

The most reliable way to ensure accurate Form 10BD filing is to maintain a complete, PAN-verified donor register throughout the year — not to reconstruct it in April and May.

Every donation you record should capture the donor's PAN, full name and address at the time of entry. When Form 10BD filing time comes, your register is already the source data for the statement.

If your institution uses Sanstha ERP's receipt management, the donor database captures all required fields at the time of receipt generation. The same data feeds your Form 10BD filing without re-entry — eliminating the mismatch errors that are the primary cause of Form 10BD rejections.

For more on maintaining donor records through the year, see our guide on how to generate 80G receipts correctly and the 80G receipt format requirements that the IT department scrutinises.