Chartered Accountant · ICAI M.No. 153926 · FRN 136869W
3 years provisional / 5 years
New trusts get a 3-year provisional registration; established ones get 5 years.
Renew before expiry
File Form 10AB ahead of expiry to keep the exemption running. Confirm current timelines.
Tracking the clock, provisional to regular
The two periods serve different stages. A brand-new trust that hasn’t yet started activities gets a provisional registration for three years on filing Form 10A. Once it has commenced its charitable work, it must apply for regular registration in Form 10AB — at least six months before the provisional registration expires, or within six months of commencing activities, whichever is earlier — and the regular registration then runs for five years. Established trusts moving through the renewal cycle also get five years at a time. The key discipline is to treat the expiry date as a hard deadline: file Form 10AB in good time, because a lapse doesn’t just pause the exemption — it can end it and bring an accreted-income (exit) tax on the trust’s net assets. The renewal isn’t a rubber stamp; the department reviews whether the activities are genuine and within the objects, so the trust should have its accounts, activity reports and any 80G position ready. Putting the expiry and the six-month-before date in the trust’s compliance calendar the moment registration is granted is the simplest safeguard. Confirm the current windows, which the 12AB regime sets and has adjusted.