Form 10B - Applicability, Due Date, How To Download and How To File Form 10B of the Income Tax Act

According to the Third Amendment of Income Tax Rules 2023, the tax audit report needs to be furnished by charitable trusts, institutions and NGOs to file form 10B. These institutions and trusts must be registered under Section 12A or approved under Section 10(23C) of the Income Tax Act. Keep reading to get a detailed idea about Form 10B of the Income Tax Act.

Latest Update

The due date to submit From 10B and Form 10BB was originally September 30, 2023. But now, the department has extended the deadline to October 31, 2023 as per the Income Tax Circular No.16/2023 dated 18th September 2023.

Form 10B of the Income Tax Act 

Form 10B previously allowed a taxpayer to file an audit report if they were already registered or applied as a charitable or religious trust or institution by filing Form 10A. These trusts or institutions had to be registered under Section 12A.

As per Income Tax (Third Amendment) Rules 2023, the focus of applicability of the form for furnishing tax audit reports has a wider scope. Under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, form 10B is now concerned with audit reports of charitable funds, universities, educational institutions, hospitals or other medical institutions whose total income in the previous financial year has crossed the threshold of Rs.5 crore. 

Form 10B Applicability

Every organisation or trust registered under Section 12 must file Form 10B as per the Third Amendment of the Income Tax Act. Here are some of the situations in case of which you need to mandatorily file form 10B:

• If the total income of the trust or institution exceeds Rs.5 crore during the previous fiscal year.
• In case a trust or institution receives any amount of foreign contribution. Even if the institution is not registered under section 12A or approved under section 10(23C), they must file form 10B.
• In case any institution or trust has used any amount of its income outside India in the previous year. 

Form 10B Due Date 

Trusts, institutions, universities and hospitals registered under section 12A must file a tax audit report while filing form 10B. The due date for Form 10B as per the law for any previous year is usually one month before the income tax return filing due date. However, the due date for filing Form 10B has been extended to 31st October 2023 for the previous year 2022-23 (AY 2023-24). 

Generally, the due date for filing the tax audit report is 30^th September 2023. Companies which require audit have a due date of 31^st October 2023 for the financial year 2022-23 for filing their income tax returns. However, the ITR-7 due date was extended to 30th November 2023 for AY 2023-24, due to which the due date of Form 10B was also extended by one month for AY 2023-24.

How to download Form 10B? 

You can file your income tax return online by logging into the official website of the Income Tax Department. Apart from that, you can also download Form 10B for offline use from the official website of the Income Tax Department of India. 

You can click on this link to download Form 10B offline. 

When can I file Form 10B?

In case the total income of a trust or institution is calculated without taking into consideration Sections 11 and 12, the financial reports need to be audited by a CA. Apart from that, if total income is more than the maximum amount not taxable under the income tax regime in a particular financial year, it must be audited by a CA. 

In both cases, the institution or trust must furnish receipts of said income, a return of the income, and an audit report duly signed by CA while filing form 10B.

It should also be noted that the charitable or religious trust or institution should be registered under Section 12A of the IT Act or should have submitted an application for registration. 

How to file Form 10B of the Income Tax Act?

As it is generally the CA who does auditing for any trust or institution, therefore the taxpayer needs to assign the form to a CA. After assigning the form to the CA, he/she can follow the steps mentioned below for filing form 10B:

1. Log in to the official Income Tax e-filing website by using valid CA credentials.

2. Select ‘Pending Actions’ from the taskbar and click on ‘Worklist’ to get a view of the forms that have been assigned by the taxpayer to you.

3. You can accept or reject forms assigned to you by the taxpayer and specify a reason that will be sent to the taxpayer. You can accept a form from the list of forms assigned to you by the relevant taxpayer. Once you accept the form, the ‘Accepted Successfully’ message will be displayed on your screen.

4. From the ‘Worklist’, click on the ‘File Form’ button beside the details of the form.

5. After verifying all the details of Form 10B visible on the screen, click on ‘Continue’.

6. An instruction page will open; click on ‘Let’s Get Started’.

7. Provide details for each section and then click on ‘Preview’. 

8. A preview page will open here. Double check all information and click on ‘Proceed To E-Verify’.

9. A dialogue box will open. Here, you need to click on ‘Yes’ if you are sure you want to e-verify.

10. On the e-verification page, verify using a Digital Signature Certificate. 

11. After successful validation, a ‘Submitted successfully to Tax Payer’ message will be visible on the screen. Along with that, an email and SMS will be sent to taxpayers, who can then either accept or reject Form 10B.

Form 10B Guidance Note 

You need to keep certain things in mind before filing Form 10B, which have been discussed below: 

• Both the taxpayer and CA should be registered users on the e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department.
• Taxpayer must add CA through My CA service for Form 10B before filing Form 10B.
• PAN status of both CA and Taxpayer needs to be active
• CA needs to have an active, registered and valid Digital Signature Certificate.
• Taxpayers who need to file Form 10B must have already obtained or applied for registration as a charitable or religious institution or trust under section 12A for availing Form 10B.

Difference between Form 10B and 10BB

Here is a table defining the differences between Form 10B and Form 10BB:

Final Word

Now that you are aware of all the rules and regulations in relation to filing Form 10B, you can file your returns without any hassle. However, you must keep in mind that there is a due date before which you must mandatorily file it or else there might be severe repercussions. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is required to file form 10B?

Ans. Form 10B needs to be filed by charitable or religious trusts or institutions that are registered under section 12A and have submitted applications for registration by filing form 10A. Taxpayers generally assign Form 10B to Chartered Accountants for filing it.

What is the last date for Form 10B?

Ans. The last date for filing the Tax Audit Report is 30^th September 2023, and for filing ITR for FY 2022-23 is 31^st October 2023. However, an extension was granted to the due date of filing Form 10B and ITR-7 as 31st October 2023 and 30th November 2023 for AY 2023-24 respectively vide Income Tax Circular 16/2023 dated 18th September 2023.

What is the limit of 10B?

Ans. Trusts and institutions must file Form 10B if they furnish a tax audit report highlighting total income exceeding Rs.5 crore in the previous fiscal year. 

Is filing form 10B mandatory?

Ans. Yes, filing Form 10B and furnishing the audit report before the due date is mandatory by businesses and companies as prescribed under Section 44AB of the Income Tax Act.