Trust Registration in Raipur

Step one — creating the trust

A trust is created by a trust deed, executed by the settlor and accepted by the trustees. It requires a settlor who dedicates property to the trust, at least two trustees, identified trust property — which may be a modest initial sum — and objects that are genuinely charitable or religious.

Public or private. A public charitable trust benefits the general public or a section of it, and is the form used for schools, hospitals, temples and charitable work generally. A private trust benefits identified individuals or a family, is governed by the Indian Trusts Act, and does not attract the exemptions discussed below. Which is being created should be settled at the outset, because the deed is drafted differently for each.

Registration in Chhattisgarh. Public trusts in the state are governed by the public trusts legislation of 1951, inherited on reorganisation and applied as Chhattisgarh law. It provides for a Registrar of Public Trusts at district level — in Raipur, an office held by the Sub-Divisional Officer — with whom a public trust is registered and by whom the Register of Public Trusts is maintained. The deed itself is executed on stamp paper of the value the state prescribes and registered with the Sub-Registrar having jurisdiction over the trust's address.

This district-level structure is worth knowing at the outset, because it means registration is a local process with a local officer, and because subsequent changes — a change of trustees, of address, or of trust property — are recorded with the same office rather than centrally.

Documents required

• Trust deed on stamp paper, signed by the settlor on every page
• Identity and address proof for the settlor and every trustee, with photographs
• PAN of the settlor and trustees
• Proof of the trust's registered address — utility bill, and where the premises are not owned, a rent agreement and no-objection certificate from the owner
• Details of the initial trust property
• The deed is the trust's constitution and should be drafted, not adapted. It governs how trustees are appointed and removed, what happens on a trustee's death or resignation, who may operate bank accounts, whether the objects can be amended and how, and what becomes of the property if the trust is wound up. A template that covers the objects and little else creates problems that surface years later — most commonly when a founding trustee dies and the deed says nothing about succession.
• The objects clause deserves particular care. Tax registration is granted by reference to the objects, and objects drawn too widely, or including anything that is not charitable, can cause the application to be refused or the registration later questioned.

Step two — tax registration, which changed this year

Creating the trust does not make it tax-exempt. That requires separate registration with the income tax authorities, and separate approval if donors are to claim a deduction.

The framework was rewritten on 1 April 2026. Charitable trusts, religious trusts, societies and Section 8 companies are now dealt with together as registered non-profit organisations. The provisions previously scattered across many sections of the old Act are consolidated into a single part of the new one. Registration is now granted under Section 332, replacing the earlier registration provisions, and approval for donor deduction under Section 354, replacing what everyone knew as 80G.

The forms have changed too. Provisional registration is applied for in Form 104, replacing the earlier Form 10A, and regular registration and renewal in Form 105, replacing Form 10AB. Orders granting or refusing registration are issued in their own prescribed forms.

How the two stages work. A new trust ordinarily obtains provisional registration first, which runs for three years. Before it expires, an application is made for regular registration, which runs for five years — extended to ten years for organisations whose income did not exceed ₹5 crore in each of the two preceding years. Renewal is then required before each expiry.

Registration is no longer perpetual. This is the single most important change of recent years for existing trusts, and it is still not widely understood. A registration granted decades ago and never renewed is not simply dormant — it has expired.

The point every existing trust should check now

An organisation holding a valid registration on 1 April 2026 was carried into the new framework automatically. It need do nothing immediately; the registration runs to its existing expiry and is then renewed under the new provisions, with the application made in advance rather than after.

An organisation whose registration had already lapsed before that date was not carried over. It must make a fresh application, and its income for the intervening period is taxable under the ordinary provisions rather than exempt.

The difficulty is that a lapse is often invisible. Trustees hold a certificate, the trust has always been treated as exempt, and nothing has obviously changed. We check this first for any trust that comes to us, and it is worth checking for a trust that does not.

Failure to apply within the prescribed time limits — on conversion of provisional registration, on renewal, or on a change of objects — can, if not condoned, attract tax on the organisation's accumulated assets rather than merely on a year's income. The consequence of missing a renewal is therefore out of proportion to the administrative effort of making one.

Trust, society or Section 8 company?

All three can carry on charitable work and all three can obtain the same tax registrations. They differ in how they are governed and how much compliance they carry.

A trust is governed by its deed and managed by trustees, who are typically self-perpetuating. It is the simplest to form and to run, and it suits a founder or family wanting settled control and a long horizon — a school, a temple, an endowment.

A society is governed by its memorandum and rules and managed by a committee elected by its members. It suits an organisation with a genuine membership that expects a voice, and it carries an annual filing obligation with the state registrar.

A Section 8 company is governed by the Companies Act, with directors, board meetings, statutory audit and annual filings. It is the most demanding to run and the most credible to institutional funders, which is why it is increasingly chosen by organisations seeking corporate social responsibility funding or foreign contributions.

Governance is usually the deciding question rather than cost. A trust concentrates control; a society disperses it; a company formalises it. We work through which fits the founders' actual intentions before anything is drafted.

After registration

The exemption is earned annually, not held permanently. A registered organisation must apply at least 85 per cent of its income to charitable purposes each year, invest only in permitted modes, avoid benefit to trustees and specified persons, obtain an audit, report donations, and file a return — even where no tax is payable. Failure to file for three consecutive years can lead to cancellation.

These obligations are dealt with on our Trust, Society and NGO Audit page, and we handle them for the trusts we set up.

Scope of our work

We advise on whether a trust, a society or a Section 8 company fits the founders' intentions; draft the trust deed to the actual arrangement, with particular attention to the objects clause and to succession; arrange execution, stamping and registration with the Sub-Registrar and the Registrar of Public Trusts; obtain PAN and open the trust's bank account; apply for provisional and regular tax registration and for donor-deduction approval; track renewal dates and apply in advance of expiry; and, for existing trusts, establish whether the registration is current and what must be done if it is not.