Section - 10(23C), Income-tax Act (IT Act, 1961)

Any income received by any person on behalf of—

(i) the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund or the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES FUND); or

(ii) the Prime Minister's Fund (Promotion of Folk Art); or

(iii) the Prime Minister's Aid to Students Fund; or

(iiia) the National Foundation for Communal Harmony; or

(iiiaa) the Swachh Bharat Kosh, set up by the Central Government; or

(iiiaaa) the Clean Ganga Fund, set up by the Central Government; or

(iiiaaaa) the Chief Minister's Relief Fund or the Lieutenant Governor's Relief Fund in respect of any State or Union territory as referred to in sub-clause (iiihf) of clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 80G; or

(iiiab) any university or other educational institution existing solely for educational purposes and not for purposes of profit, and which is wholly or substantially financed by the Government; or

(iiiac) any hospital or other institution for the reception and treatment of persons suffering from illness or mental defectiveness or for the reception and treatment of persons during convalescence or of persons requiring medical attention or rehabilitation, existing solely for philanthropic purposes and not for purposes of profit, and which is wholly or substantially financed by the Government.

Explanation.— For the purposes of sub-clauses (iiiab) and (iiiac), any university or other educational institution, hospital or other institution referred therein, shall be considered as being substantially financed by the Government for any previous year, if the Government grant to such university or other educational institution, hospital or other institution exceeds such percentage of the total receipts including any voluntary contributions, as may be prescribed, of such university or other educational institution, hospital or other institution, as the case may be, during the relevant previous year; or

(iiiad) any university or other educational institution existing solely for educational purposes and not for purposes of profit if the aggregate annual receipts of such university or educational institution do not exceed the amount of annual receipts as may be prescribed; or

(iiiae) any hospital or other institution for the reception and treatment of persons suffering from illness or mental defectiveness or for the reception and treatment of persons during convalescence or of persons requiring medical attention or rehabilitation, existing solely for philanthropic purposes and not for purposes of profit, if the aggregate annual receipts of such hospital or institution do not exceed the amount of annual receipts as may be prescribed; or

Following Explanation shall be inserted after sub-clause (iiiae) of clause (23C) of section 10 by the Finance Act, 2021, w.e.f. 1-4-2022 :

Explanation.—For the purposes of sub-clauses (iiiad) and (iiiae), it is hereby clarified that if the person has receipts from university or universities or educational institution or institutions as referred to in sub-clause (iiiad), as well as from hospital or hospitals or institution or institutions as referred to in sub-clause (iiiae), the exemptions under these clauses shall not apply, if the aggregate of annual receipts of the person from such university or universities or educational institution or institutions or hospital or hospitals or institution or institutions, exceed five crore rupees; or

(iv) any other fund or institution established for charitable purposes which may be approved by the prescribed authority, having regard to the objects of the fund or institution and its importance throughout India or throughout any State or States; or

(v) any trust (including any other legal obligation) or institution wholly for public religious purposes or wholly for public religious and charitable purposes, which may be approved by the prescribed authority, having regard to the manner in which the affairs of the trust or institution are administered and supervised for ensuring that the income accruing thereto is properly applied for the objects thereof;

(vi) any university or other educational institution existing solely for educational purposes and not for purposes of profit, other than those mentioned in sub-clause (iiiab) or sub-clause (iiiad) and which may be approved by the prescribed authority; or

(via) any hospital or other institution for the reception and treatment of persons suffering from illness or mental defectiveness or for the reception and treatment of persons during convalescence or of persons requiring medical attention or rehabilitation, existing solely for philanthropic purposes and not for purposes of profit, other than those mentioned in sub-clause (iiiac) or sub-clause (iiiae) and which may be approved by the prescribed authority:

Provided that the exemption to the fund or trust or institution or university or other educational institution or hospital or other medical institution referred to in sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v) or sub-clause (vi) or sub-clause (via), under the respective sub-clauses, shall not be available to it unless such fund or trust or institution or university or other educational institution or hospital or other medical institution makes an application in the prescribed form and manner to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, for grant of approval,—

(i) where such fund or trust or institution or university or other educational institution or hospital or other medical institution is approved under the second proviso as it stood immediately before its amendment by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020, within three months from the 1st day of April, 2021;

(ii) where such fund or trust or institution or university or other educational institution or hospital or other medical institution is approved and the period of such approval is due to expire, at least six months prior to expiry of the said period;

(iii) where such fund or trust or institution or university or other educational institution or hospital or other medical institution has been provisionally approved, at least six months prior to expiry of the period of the provisional approval or within six months of commencement of its activities, whichever is earlier;

(iv) in any other case, at least one month prior to the commencement of the previous year relevant to the assessment year from which the said approval is sought, and the said fund or trust or institution or university or other educational institution or hospital or other medical institution is approved under the second proviso:

Provided further that the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, on receipt of an application made under the first proviso, shall,—

(i) where the application is made under clause (i) of the said proviso, pass an order in writing granting approval to it for a period of five years;

(ii) where the application is made under clause (ii) or clause (iii) of the said proviso,—

(a) call for such documents or information from it or make such inquiries as he thinks necessary in order to satisfy himself about—

(A) the genuineness of activities of such fund or trust or institution or university or other educational institution or hospital or other medical institution; and

(B) the compliance of such requirements of any other law for the time being in force by it as are material for the purpose of achieving its objects; and

(b) after satisfying himself about the objects and the genuineness of its activities under item (A), and compliance of the requirements under item (B), of sub-clause (a),—

(A) pass an order in writing granting approval to it for a period of five years;

(B) if he is not so satisfied, pass an order in writing rejecting such application and also cancelling its approval after affording it a reasonable opportunity of being heard;

(iii) where the application is made under clause (iv) of the said proviso, pass an order in writing granting approval to it provisionally for a period of three years from the assessment year from which the registration is sought, and send a copy of such order to the fund or trust or institution or university or other educational institution or hospital or other medical institution:

Provided also that the fund or trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution referred to in sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v) or sub-clause (vi) or sub-clause (via)—

(a) applies its income, or accumulates it for application, wholly and exclusively to the objects for which it is established and in a case where more than fifteen per cent of its income is accumulated on or after the 1st day of April, 2002, the period of the accumulation of the amount exceeding fifteen per cent of its income shall in no case exceed five years; and

(b) does not invest or deposit its funds, other than—

(i) any assets held by the fund, trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution where such assets form part of the corpus of the fund, trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution as on the 1st day of June, 1973;

(ia) any asset, being equity shares of a public company, held by any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution where such assets form part of the corpus of any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution as on the 1st day of June, 1998;

(ii) any assets (being debentures issued by, or on behalf of, any company or corporation), acquired by the fund, trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution before the 1st day of March, 1983;

(iii) any accretion to the shares, forming part of the corpus mentioned in sub-clause (i) and sub-clause (ia), by way of bonus shares allotted to the fund, trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution;

(iv) voluntary contributions received and maintained in the form of jewellery, furniture or any other article as the Board may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify, for any period during the previous year otherwise than in any one or more of the forms or modes specified in sub-section (5) of section 11.

Explanation.—For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that for the purposes of this proviso, the income of the funds or trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution, shall not include income in the form of voluntary contributions made with a specific direction that they shall form part of the corpus of such fund or trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution subject to the condition that such voluntary contributions are invested or deposited in one or more of the forms or modes specified in sub-section (5) of section 11 maintained specifically for such corpus:

Following Explanation 2 shall be inserted after the Explanation 1 as so renumbered to the third proviso to clause (23C) of section 10 by the Finance Act, 2021, w.e.f. 1-4-2022 :

Explanation 2.—For the purposes of determining the amount of application under this proviso,—

(i) application for charitable or religious purposes from the corpus as referred to in Explanation 1, shall not be treated as application of income for charitable or religious purposes:

Provided also that the amount not so treated as application or part thereof, shall be treated as application for charitable or religious purposes in the previous year in which the amount, or part thereof, is invested or deposited back, into one or more of the forms or modes specified in sub-section (5) of section 11 maintained specifically for such corpus, from the income of that year and to the extent of such investment or deposit; and

(ii) application for charitable or religious purposes, from any loan or borrowing, shall not be treated as application of income for charitable or religious purposes:

Provided also that the amount not so treated as application or part thereof, shall be treated as application for charitable or religious purposes in the previous year in which the loan or borrowing, or part thereof, is repaid from the income of that year and to the extent of such repayment:

Provided also that the exemption under sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v) shall not be denied in relation to any funds invested or deposited before the 1st day of April, 1989, otherwise than in any one or more of the forms or modes specified in sub-section (5) of section 11 if such funds do not continue to remain so invested or deposited after the 30th day of March, 1993 :

Provided also that the exemption under sub-clause (vi) or sub-clause (via) shall not be denied in relation to any funds invested or deposited before the 1st day of June, 1998, otherwise than in any one or more of the forms or modes specified in sub-section (5) of section 11 if such funds do not continue to remain so invested or deposited after the 30th day of March, 2001:

Provided also that the exemption under sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v) or sub-clause (vi) or sub-clause (via) shall not be denied in relation to voluntary contribution, other than voluntary contribution in cash or voluntary contribution of the nature referred to in clause (b) of the third proviso to this sub-clause, subject to the condition that such voluntary contribution is not held by the trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution, otherwise than in any one or more of the forms or modes specified in sub-section (5) of section 11, after the expiry of one year from the end of the previous year in which such asset is acquired or the 31st day of March, 1992, whichever is later:

Provided also that nothing contained in sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v) or sub-clause (vi) or sub-clause (via) shall apply in relation to any income of the fund or trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution, being profits and gains of business, unless the business is incidental to the attainment of its objectives and separate books of account are maintained by it in respect of such business:

Provided also that any approval granted under the second proviso shall apply in relation to the income of the fund or trust or institution or university or other educational institution or hospital or other medical institution,

(i) where the application is made under clause (i) of the first proviso, from the assessment year from which approval was earlier granted to it;

(ii) where the application is made under clause (iii) of the first proviso, from the first of the assessment years for which it was provisionally approved;

(iii) in any other case, from the assessment year immediately following the financial year in which such application is made:

Provided also that the order under clause (i), sub-clause (b) of clause (ii) and clause (iii) of the second proviso shall be passed, in such form and manner as may be prescribed, before expiry of the period of three months, six months and one month, respectively, calculated from the end of the month in which the application was received:

Provided also that where the total income, of the fund or trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution referred to in sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v) or sub-clause (vi) or sub-clause (via), without giving effect to the provisions of the said sub-clauses, exceeds the maximum amount which is not chargeable to tax in any previous year, such trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution shall get its accounts audited in respect of that year by an accountant as defined in the Explanation below sub-section (2) of section 288 before the specified date referred to in section 44AB and furnish by that date, the report of such audit in the prescribed form duly signed and verified by such accountant and setting forth such particulars as may be prescribed:

Provided also that any amount of donation received by the fund or institution in terms of clause (d) of sub-section (2) of section 80G in respect of which accounts of income and expenditure have not been rendered to the authority prescribed under clause (v) of sub-section (5C) of that section, in the manner specified in that clause, or which has been utilised for purposes other than providing relief to the victims of earthquake in Gujarat or which remains unutilised in terms of sub-section (5C) of section 80G and not transferred to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund on or before the 31st day of March, 2004 shall be deemed to be the income of the previous year and shall accordingly be charged to tax:

Provided also that any amount credited or paid out of income of any fund or trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution referred to in sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v) or sub-clause (vi) or sub-clause (via), to any other fund or trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution referred to in sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v) or sub-clause (vi) or sub-clause (via) or trust or institution registered under section 12AA or section 12AB , being voluntary contribution made with a specific direction that they shall form part of the corpus, shall not be treated as application of income to the objects for which such fund or trust or institution or university or educational institution or hospital or other medical institution, as the case may be, is established:

Provided also that for the purposes of determining the amount of application under item (a) of the third proviso, the provisions of sub-clause (ia) of clause (a) of section 40 and sub-sections (3) and (3A) of section 40A, shall, mutatis mutandis, apply as they apply in computing the income chargeable under the head "Profits and gains of business or profession":

Provided also that where the fund or trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution referred to in sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v) or sub-clause (vi) or sub-clause (via) does not apply its income during the year of receipt and accumulates it, any payment or credit out of such accumulation to any trust or institution registered under section 12AA or section 12AB or to any fund or trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution referred to in sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v) or sub-clause (vi) or sub-clause (via) shall not be treated as application of income to the objects for which such fund or trust or institution or university or educational institution or hospital or other medical institution, as the case may be, is established :

Provided also that where the fund or institution referred to in sub-clause (iv) or trust or institution referred to in sub-clause (v) is notified by the Central Government or is approved by the prescribed authority, as the case may be, or any university or other educational institution referred to in sub-clause (vi) or any hospital or other medical institution referred to in sub-clause (via), is approved by the prescribed authority and subsequently that Government or the prescribed authority is satisfied that-

(i) such fund or institution or trust or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution has not—

(A) applied its income in accordance with the provisions contained in clause (a) of the third proviso; or

(B) invested or deposited its funds in accordance with the provisions contained in clause (b) of the third proviso; or

(ii) the activities of such fund or institution or trust or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution—

(A) are not genuine; or

(B) are not being carried out in accordance with all or any of the conditions subject to which it was notified or approved; or

(iii) such fund or institution or trust or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution has not complied with the requirement of any other law for the time being in force, and the order, direction or decree, by whatever name called, holding that such non-compliance has occurred, has either not been disputed or has attained finality, it may, at any time after giving a reasonable opportunity of showing cause against the proposed action to the concerned fund or institution or trust or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution, rescind the notification or, by order, withdraw the approval, as the case may be, and forward a copy of the order rescinding the notification or withdrawing the approval to such fund or institution or trust or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution and to the Assessing Officer:

Provided also that any anonymous donation referred to in section 115BBC on which tax is payable in accordance with the provisions of the said section shall be included in the total income :

Provided also that all applications made under the first proviso as it stood before its amendment by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 pending before the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, on which no order has been passed before the 1st day of April, 2021, shall be deemed to be applications made under clause (iv) of the first proviso on that date:

Provided also that the income of a trust or institution referred to in sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v) shall be included in its total income of the previous year if the provisions of the first proviso to clause (15) of section 2 become applicable to such trust or institution in the said previous year, whether or not any approval granted or notification issued in respect of such trust or institution has been withdrawn or rescinded :

Provided also that where the fund or institution referred to in sub-clause (iv) or the trust or institution referred to in sub-clause (v) has been notified by the Central Government or approved by the prescribed authority, as the case may be, or any university or other educational institution referred to in sub-clause (vi) or any hospital or other medical institution referred to in sub-clause (via), has been approved by the prescribed authority, and the notification or the approval is in force for any previous year, then, nothing contained in any other provision of this section other than clause (1) thereof shall operate to exclude any income received on behalf of such fund or trust or institution or university or other educational institution or hospital or other medical institution, as the case may be, from the total income of the person in receipt thereof for that previous year.

Explanation.—In this clause, where any income is required to be applied or accumulated, then, for such purpose the income shall be determined without any deduction or allowance by way of depreciation or otherwise in respect of any asset, acquisition of which has been claimed as an application of income under this clause in the same or any other previous year;

Following Explanation 2 shall be inserted after Explanation 1 as so renumbered to clause (23C) of section 10 by the Finance Act, 2021, w.e.f. 1-4-2022 :

Explanation 2.— For the purposes of this clause, it is clarified that the calculation of income required to be applied or accumulated during the previous year shall be made without any set off or deduction or allowance of any excess application of any of the year preceding to the previous year;