Section 133, Income-tax Act 2025: Deduction in respect of donations to certain funds, charitable institutions, etc.

What changed when Section 80G became Section 133?

The number, not the deduction. Section 80G of the Income-tax Act 1961 is the provision that lets you deduct donations to approved funds and charities. The Income-tax Act 2025 carries it forward as Section 133, titled "Deduction in respect of donations to certain funds, charitable institutions, etc.", and keeps the substance intact: the same 100% and 50% rates, the same 10%-of-income ceiling on the capped categories, the same ₹2,000 cash limit, and the same money-only rule that shuts out gifts in kind.

The plumbing around it was renamed to match the rest of the Act. The donee's donor statement, Form 10BD, becomes Form 113, and the certificate you receive, Form 10BE, becomes Form 114, both filed under the new reporting section 354. The charitable institution itself is now registered as a non-profit organisation under Section 332 (the successor to the old 12A/12AB registration), and its eligibility to give you an 80G-style deduction sits in Section 133(1)(b)(ii). If you gave under 80G last year, nothing you do changes; only the labels on the forms and the section do.

Section number and title confirmed from independent published copies of the Act and cross-checked against the official incometax.gov.in Form Mapping Guide, which cites "section 133(1)(b)(ii)" and maps Form 10BD to 113 and Form 10BE to 114 under section 354.†

Who can claim the deduction under Section 133?

Almost any taxpayer, but only on the old regime. Unlike the investment basket (Section 123, the old 80C), the donation deduction is not limited to individuals and HUFs. What it does need is a real tax liability to reduce and a donee that is actually approved.

• Any assessee can claim: individuals, Hindu Undivided Families, companies, firms and LLPs alike. A salaried person, a business and a company that donates all use the same section.
• You must be on the old regime. Anyone who stays on the default new regime gets nothing here, whatever they gave. This is the single biggest reason a donation deduction goes unused.
• The donee must be approved. Only donations to funds named in the section or to institutions holding a valid registration (the RNPO registration under Section 332, with approval under Section 133(1)(b)(ii)) qualify. A genuine but unregistered NGO earns you no deduction.
• Foreign charities are out. The institution must be established in India and approved here; a donation to an overseas charity does not qualify however worthy the cause.

A company claiming a deduction here is separate from CSR: money spent to meet a mandatory CSR obligation is specifically not treated as a Section 133 donation, though some CSR contributions to named government funds can still qualify.†

What are the four donation categories, and how much does each deduct?

Every eligible donation falls into one of four boxes, set by two questions: is it deductible at 100% or 50%, and is it capped or uncapped? The rate and the cap together decide what you actually get back.

The largest category by far is the last one: the ordinary registered charity, deductible at 50% and capped at 10% of income.†

What counts as adjusted gross total income?

The 10% ceiling is measured against a trimmed-down version of your income, not your gross salary. Adjusted gross total income starts from your gross total income and strips out the amounts the law does not want inflating the ceiling.

From gross total income, take out:

• Every other Chapter VIII deduction you are claiming (the old 80C to 80U basket), except this donation deduction itself.
• Long-term capital gains, and short-term capital gains on listed equity taxed at the special rate (the old Section 111A, now Section 196).
• Incomes taxed at special rates for non-residents and foreign institutional investors.
• Any income on which no tax is payable, such as specified exempt incomes.

What remains is your adjusted gross total income, and 10% of it is the qualifying limit for the two capped categories.†

How do you calculate the Section 133 deduction, step by step?

Five steps, and the order matters because the cap is applied before the rate:

• Sort each donation into its category using the certificate: 100% or 50%, capped or uncapped.
• Add up your uncapped donations. These are deductible in full at their rate (100% or 50%) with no ceiling to worry about.
• Add up your capped donations (both the 100% and 50% capped categories together). Work out your qualifying limit: 10% of adjusted gross total income.
• If the capped donations exceed the qualifying limit, ignore the excess. Only the amount within the limit survives to the next step.
• Apply 100% or 50% to each surviving capped donation, add it to the uncapped deduction from step 2, and subtract the total from your income before the slabs bite.

The worked examples below run these steps for a full-deduction fund, a capped charity that breaches the ceiling, and a mix of the two.

How do the ₹2,000 cash cap and in-kind rules work?

Two hard limits catch people every filing season, and both are about how you give, not how much. First, a cash donation earns a deduction only up to ₹2,000. Give ₹5,000 in cash to a charity and you get nothing, not even on the first ₹2,000; the whole donation is disqualified for the cash mode. Pay the same ₹5,000 by UPI, bank transfer, card or cheque and it qualifies in full. The fix is simply to never donate more than ₹2,000 in physical cash.

Second, only money counts. A donation made in kind, clothes, food, blankets, medicines, laptops, or a cheque written to buy goods for a charity, is not deductible under Section 133, however valuable. The section allows a deduction "only for donation made as a sum of money". This is why relief-drive giving, however generous, rarely produces a tax deduction: the receipt is for goods, not a sum of money paid to an approved donee.

The ₹2,000 cash cap and the money-only rule carry over unchanged from Section 80G; both are stated in the published copies of Section 133.

Which donations look eligible but are not?

Several common gifts are covered by different rules, or by nothing at all:

• Donations to a political party or electoral trust. These are not Section 133 at all; they sit in the old 80GGC (for individuals) or 80GGB (for companies), which the 2025 Act carries forward separately, and they need non-cash payment too.
• Donations for scientific research or rural development. These belong to the old Section 80GGA, a separate provision from 80G, mainly for taxpayers without business income.
• A company's mandatory CSR spend. Corporate social responsibility contributions made to meet the Companies Act obligation are generally not a Section 133 deduction, with a narrow exception for a few named government funds.
• Gifts to an unregistered NGO, a crowdfunding page, or a foreign charity. No valid Indian approval means no deduction, even if the cause is genuine and the receipt is real.
• Tuition, temple hundi drops and anonymous cash. Without a receipt naming you and the approved donee, and with cash over ₹2,000, there is nothing to claim.

How do you prove the donation, and what is Form 114?

The claim now runs on a certificate, not a loose receipt. Since the 80G reporting reforms, the flow is automated: the institution files a donor statement listing every donation it received (Form 10BD, renamed Form 113 under the 2025 Act), and the e-filing portal then generates a donation certificate for each donor (Form 10BE, renamed Form 114). The institution downloads Form 114 and gives it to you. Your name, PAN, the amount, the donation category and the institution's registration number all appear on it.

This matters because the deduction is matched. The amount on your Form 114 flows into the department's records and typically appears in your Annual Information Statement (AIS), so what you claim in the return should equal the certificate. A donation the institution never reported in its statement will not have a certificate, and a claim without one is the first thing an assessment picks up. Keep the certificate, and for a salaried donor, hand it to your employer with your investment proofs if you want the deduction reflected in your TDS rather than waiting for a refund.

Form 10BD becomes Form 113 and Form 10BE becomes Form 114 under the 2025 Act, both under reporting section 354, per the official incometax.gov.in Form Mapping Guide.†

Is Section 133 available under the new tax regime?

No. The donation deduction is an old-regime provision only, exactly as 80G was. A taxpayer on the default new regime (Section 202, the old 115BAC) cannot deduct a donation, whether it was ₹500 or ₹5 lakh, and whether the fund was in the 100% or the 50% category.

That single fact usually settles whether the deduction is worth chasing. If the new regime already gives you a lower bill (which it does for most people without large deductions), a donation buys you goodwill and nothing on tax, because claiming it would mean switching to the old regime and losing more elsewhere. The deduction only turns into real money when you are already on the old regime for other reasons, such as home-loan interest, HRA or a full Section 123 basket. The strategy section below puts numbers on that decision.

Should you claim under Section 133, and how to give tax-efficiently?

The honest bottom line: for a salaried taxpayer earning under ₹12 lakh on the new regime, where the Section 156 rebate already zeroes the tax, a donation changes the tax bill by nothing at all, and no amount of giving creates a deduction. Give because the cause deserves it. The deduction is a bonus that shows up only when you are on the old regime with a live tax liability to reduce.

Treat the deduction as a discount on giving you were going to do anyway, never as a reason to give. Three rules make it work:

• Check the regime first. On the new regime the deduction is worth zero, so a ₹1,00,000 donation to a 50% charity that would save ₹15,600 on the old regime saves nothing if switching regimes costs you more than ₹15,600 elsewhere. Run both regimes in the income-tax calculator before assuming the donation helps.
• Prefer the 100%, no-limit funds when the tax saving is the point. A ₹1,00,000 gift to the PM National Relief Fund deducts the full ₹1,00,000; the same ₹1,00,000 to a capped 50% charity, if you are already at the 10% ceiling, may deduct far less. The cause matters more than the maths, but know the difference.
• Never carry a cash donation over ₹2,000, and never give in kind if you want the deduction. Split larger giving across digital payments, collect the Form 114 certificate, and match it to your AIS before filing.

Worked examples

Section 133 FAQs

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