Income Tax Refund of NGO

Mostly, TDS is deducted by Banks on the Interest income of NGO. As, NGOs / Trusts are having 12A certificate of Income Tax Exemption, there is no tax on income of NGO and thus all TDS amount is to be refunded by Income Tax Department. However, due to technical and other problems, Income Tax Refund of NGOs are pending with the IT Department for many years. Lets have a look on how to get Income Tax Refund of NGO quickly. But before that you need to first make sure Income Tax Return of your NGO is properly filled in ITR7 form.

All you need to know about Income Tax Return of NGO – ITR7

Also need to check which years refunds are pending and why. So lets find out how to check status of refund of ngo.

There are two ways to check Income Tax Refund of NGO

1) from NSDL Website.

Go to this website : https://tin.tin.nsdl.com/oltas/refundstatuslogin.html , enter your PAN, Assessment Year and Captcha.

 

It will show you the status of your Refund. If Refund is already issued,it will show date when refund is credited to your Bank Account. If your refund was send by Department, but due some errors like wrong Bank Account Number or any such technical issues, it was returned and not credited to your Bank Accounts. In such a case you have to apply for re-issue of Refund. Third possibility is that your case is transferred to AO for scrutiny and thus refund is on hold.

2) With your login ID and Password

If you have login ID and Password of Income Tax Website, you can login and check status from there. If you do not have password, ask to your CA or consultant who has filled your online return.

Importnat Tip

You must keep password of your Income Tax Website with you. Never allow to give email or phone of your CA in your NGO return.

 

Go to this website :- https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/home and login with UserID (your NGO PAN) and password.

Go to “My Account” button and click on “Refund/Demand Status”. Under this tab it will display Assessment Year, Status, Reason (for Refund Failure if any) and mode of payment.

Conclusion

Do not only rely on your CA or consultant for Income Tax Refund of NGO. Check your status of refund as mentioned above. In my next blog I will show you steps on how to get refund quickly, after checking refunds of which years are pending.

How to get Income Tax Refund of NGO quickly? – Part 2

Income Tax Return of NGO

As last date of filling Income Tax Return of NGO is approaching, it is necessary that we should keep in mind some of the points related to Income Tax Return of NGO. Generally, NGOs are exempt from Income Tax and thus any TDS deducted will be given as Refund.

Read this blog – How to get Income Tax Refund of NGO quickly

Form No

Form No is ITR 7

Download Link

You can download ITR7 for Income Tax Return of NGO from here.

Last Date

Last date for filling return is 30th September

Hard Copy or Online

It is now mandatory to file ITR7 only online. NGO need to login to income tax website and fill the form to upload, you can get help form the seis tax relief service.

Signature

This online form is to be digitally signed by the Authorized person. So mostly DSC of managing trustee can work.

Details – Income

In the Income Tax Return of NGO, it is necessary to give information regarding the details of Income of NGO – mostly they are –

  • Voluntary Contribution – Corpus
  • Voluntary Contribution – General
  • Grants – (FC grant separately)
  • Government Grants
  • Other Income like Bank Interest, FC Interest and any other income
  • Business Income if any should shown separately

Details – Application of Funds

Also need to fill details regarding how the above income is used – application of funds

  • Expenditure shown in the Income and Expenditure Accounts
  • Amount set apart or carried forward
  • Depreciation etc..

Details – Others

Many other information are needed to be filled in the Income Tax Return of NGO like

  • All the Registration details, 12A, 80G, 35AC, FC Details
  • PAN and Address of all the Trustees
  • TDS information
  • Investments of NGOs etc..

Conclusion

Mostly, Income Tax Return of NGO filled by their Auditor or CA. However it is necessary for NGO accountant and top management to at least go through all the details of draft ITR7 and only ask CA to upload finally.

As you aware that as per new FCRA Act, all the organizations have to upload FCRA documents to the official website of the organization. Read this blog for more details.

If your organization do not have any website or do not afford to have one. you can create free website as illustrated in this video

Hey, Find below tutorial video showing process of renewal of FCRA in Form FC3 as per amendments  in FCRA rules 2015.

One of the major changes notified in the Amendments Rules 2015 is that now every NGO has to upload FCRA Financials to their websites within 9 months of year end. So the time limit is 31st December to upload FCRA financials to your NGO Website. In the same clause another amendment is to upload quarterly  FCRA receipts within 15 days of the quarter end. Let us discuss this in detail.

A. Upload FCRA Financials (Annually)

Q1 : What should be upload?

A1 :  Receipts and Payments Account (FC Funds), Income and Expenditure Accounts (FC Funds), Balance Sheet (FC Funds) and all the annexures.

Q2 : Is it Audited Statements?

A2 : Yes, all statements must be audited by chartered accountant.

Q3 : What is recommended format?

A3 : No format is recommended by FCRA department. It is preferable to have in PDF format.

Q4 : Where it should be upload?

A4 : NGO’s official website.

Q5 : What is the deadline?

A5 : After 9 months of Financial Year ends. i.e. 31st December.

Q6 : From which year  it should be upload?

A6 : Upload Financial Statements of 2014-15 immediately.

B. Upload Details of FC receipts  (Quarterly)

Q1 : What should be upload?

A1 :  Details of Donors, Amount Received and Date of Receipt.

Q2 : Is it Audited ?

A2 : No, only details to be uploaded.

Q3 : What is recommended format?

A3 : No format is recommended by FCRA department. It is preferable to have in PDF format.

Q4 : Where it should be upload?

A4 : As per the rule 13(b) of amendments 2015, It should be upload to NGO’s official website or website specified by the Central Government. (However no such website is specified by the Government yet, so preferable is to upload to NGO’s website right now)

Q5 : What is the deadline?

A5 : 15 Days after the end of the quarter.

  • Quarter
  • April to June
  • July to September
  • October to December
  • January to March
  • Deadline
  • 15th July
  • 15th October
  • 15th January
  • 15th April

Q6 : From which Quarter  it should be upload?

A6 : As per my opinion, NGO has to upload for three quarters of FY 2015-16  ending on 30 Jun, 30 Sept and 31 Dec  immediately.

C.What if NGO do not have website

If the NGOs do not have website, then it should get one. As the cost of creating and maintaining website is bit higher, I recommended to use below free tools / website :

https://wordpress.com/

https://www.blogger.com

Also watch my video on how to create free website of NGO on wordpress.com.

Kindly put your queries /questions / suggestions in the below comment box.

 

Series – How to Configure Tally ERP9 for NGOs

Topic – Using Cost Category for Three Di-mention Reports

Do you need to provide different reports to different funding agencies in different format ? Are you using EXCEL as main tool to get report ? Do you need to take figures from Tally and present it in different formats ??? If, so than read this blog to configure Tally ERP9 in such a way to get almost all the reports from it.

What is the Problem ?

NGO need to report to different agencies / people in different formats. Like funding agencies wants  to know “Expenditure as per budget Head”, Trustees or Program Head wants to know about Project wise / Area wise / Activity wise expenditures and Auditor wants to know expenditure in standard format like nature wise expenses and so on…

What is the solution ?

To Create such an accounting system so that expenditures are entered once but get the reports from different Di-mentions. Tally ERP9 is capable of doing this by using Cost Category features. Lets take a look how we do it.

Step 1 – Configure General Settings

Gateway → F11 Features → Accounting Features → Cost/Profit Centers Management → Maintain Cost Center → Yes → More than once Cost Category → Yes

Step1_TallyERP9_CostCategory

Step 2 – Create Cost Category

Gateway → Account Info → Cost Categories → Create

I have Created two categories

1) Project wise Expenses – For entering expenses as per Budget Head of the Project

2) Nature wise Expenses – For entering expenses as per Nature like standard expenses i.e Telephone Exp etc..

Step2_TallyERP9_CostCategory

Step 3 – Create Cost Centers (Project Name)

Gateway → Account Info → Cost Centers → Create

I have Created three Projects – Project A, Project B and Project C expenses under Cost Category “Project wise expenditure”

Step3_TallyERP9_CostCategory

Step 4 – Create Ledger Account  (Budget Head)

Gateway → Account Info → Ledgers → Create

Create Ledger Account same as per Budget Head of the Funding Agencies under Project Name as group (Indirect Expenses) .  See below image – I have created Ledger “Communication – Field (PA) under “Project A Expenses” under “Indirect Expenses”

Step4_TallyERP9_CostCategory

Step 5 – Cost Center (Standard Expenses)

Gateway → Account Info → Cost Centers → Create

Now create Standard Expenditures under theses second type of Cost Category “Nature wise Expenditures”. I have Created Telephone Expenses and such other Standard expenses – see below image.

Step5_TallyERP9_CostCategory

Step 6 – Voucher Entry

Now whenever voucher entry is made you have to select two components i) Project wise and ii) Nature wise.- see below image.

Step6_TallyERP9_CostCategory

Step 7 – Reports

Gateway → Display → Statement of Accounts → Cost Centers → Category Summary

From this Report, you can get total expenses bifurcated in both way Nature wise Expenses and Project wise Expenses. Have a look.

Step7_TallyERP9_CostCategory

Step 7 – Reports (Continue…)

Gateway → Display → Statement of Accounts → Cost Centers → Cost Center Breakup

From this Report, you can get total expenses Project wise. Have a look.

Step7.1_TallyERP9_CostCategory

Conclusion – Use your creativity

By using cost category and your creativity, you can fulfill any requirements and have wonderful reports.

I have created Area wise expenditure to know exactly how much expenses in Rural Area and Urban Area or Filed office Expenses and Head office Expenses. Have a look….

Step7.2_TallyERP9_CostCategory

Audit Report of Trust

As per Income Tax Act, every Trust has to file Audit Report for the relevant Assessment Year in Form 10B.

E-Filling of Form 10B

This Audit Report of Trust has to be filled in Form 10B. It is mandatory to file this form online with Income Tax department website. This form is initiated by Chartered Accountant of Trust and later on approved by Authorized Representative (Trustee/secretary/chairman) of the Trust.

Last Date

Last Date for filling Audit Report of Trust in Form 10B is 30th September. So For Financial year 2013-14 last date is 30th September 2014.

Video Tutorial

Just go through our video below showing tutorial on how to file Audit Report of Trust.

Need for exclusive domain extension “.ngo”

Most of the NGO using .org extension for their website. However .org by comparison is an open address. Anybody, an individual, a not-for-profit, even a commercial organization, can register in .org, and there’s no requirement—it’s open. Because of this, urgent need emerge to have separate and exclusive domain for NGO.

Why .NGO?

.NGO will be the exclusive domain for local and global non-governmental organizations looking to advance their missions or to inspire their communities. .NGO will provide immediate recognition for organizations to pursue a cause and make a positive impact. PIR (Public Interest Registry) is the non-profit organization managing .ORG – the domain that has served the non-profit community for more than 25 years – making it the natural choice for managing the domain extension “.ngo”.

The NGO term holds great weight among their communities, setting these organizations apart from commercial or governmental entities. .NGO is the definitive domain address where NGOs can differentiate themselves. The NGO community plays host to many different types of organizations operating in a variety of areas. Environmental, educational, religious, and emergency relief are just a few areas in which NGOs operate. PIR believes that each of these communities could benefit from a specific , exclusive identification on the Internet provided by .NGO. .NGO is the exclusive domain address for self-identified NGOs worldwide. .NGO’s exclusivity lends itself to reaching a broader audience who are seeking to make a positive impact on the world in any way they can.

Who Qualifies for .NGO

A NGO is defined as an entity whose mission and activities are broadly centered on improving the human condition; and are (a) non-governmental, (b) non-profit and (c) non-criminal. Members of the NGO Community include both Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and NGO membership organizations.

NGO membership organizations include the following, and may expand over time:

  • Global organizations: International associations and/or classification-based associations.
  • Regional organizations: Associations across broad geographic areas, potentially including multiple countries or jurisdictions.
  • Local organizations: Associations or groups that provide support and memberships at a country or local level

PIR is working with the NGO community to establish the most appropriate mechanisms to verify NGO status for .NGO registrants. PIR will apply these mechanisms for the registration of the .NGO TLD in close and continuing cooperation with the NGO community. .NGO will truly be a domain extension built for the community, by the community.

Are there any .NGO websites right now?

No, this will, likely, go live sometime in late 2013 or early 2014. The application process is still happening. The evaluation of applications will take a little bit of time. There have been 1,400 applications for new addresses from around the world, 1,400 new extensions. So, think .com, .net, .org, .in; 1,400 new addresses.

How to apply for .NGO ?

You can apply for free pre registration here.