Section 80G
Section 80G gives 50% or 100% deduction for donations to approved funds under the old regime; cash capped at ₹2,000 and Form 10BE is mandatory.
Definition
Section 80G gives a deduction for donations to approved charitable institutions and government relief funds. Donations fall into four categories: 100% deduction without limit (e.g., PM National Relief Fund, PM CARES Fund, National Defence Fund), 50% without limit (e.g., PM Drought Relief Fund), and 100% or 50% subject to a qualifying limit of 10% of your adjusted gross total income (most approved NGOs and temples fall in the 50%-with-limit category).
Any taxpayer — individual, HUF, firm or company — can claim it, but only under the OLD tax regime. If you file AY 2026-27 under the default new regime, no 80G deduction is available (except for company CSR-adjacent cases; for individuals it is simply not allowed). Donations in kind (clothes, food, medicines) never qualify, and cash donations are capped at ₹2,000 — anything above that must be paid by cheque, UPI or other banking mode to count.
Documentation is now certificate-driven: the donee institution must report your donation to the department in Form 10BD, and issue you a Form 10BE donation certificate (due by 31 May following the financial year). Without Form 10BE, the claim is liable to be disallowed. In the ITR, fill Schedule 80G with the institution's name, PAN, address, the donation amount, and the ARN (donation reference number) from Form 10BE for qualifying donations.
Pitfalls: claiming 100% for a 50%-category NGO, forgetting the 10% adjusted-GTI cap on 'with limit' donations, claiming cash donations above ₹2,000, and mismatches between your claim and the institution's Form 10BD filing — the department cross-checks these, so claim exactly what Form 10BE shows.
Example
Suresh donated ₹50,000 by UPI to an approved NGO in FY 2025-26, collected its Form 10BE in May 2026, and claimed a ₹25,000 deduction (50% category) in Schedule 80G of his old-regime ITR.
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