Charitable and religious institutions are persons under the Income-tax Act. They are not outside it. They may enjoy exemptions if they are registered in the manner the Act provides, apply their income in the manner the Act provides, and keep books that can show both. This note is general information. It is not written for or about any named institution.
Registration
The present framework requires registration (the form numbers have moved over the years; 12AB is the language most still use) and, where donors are to be offered a deduction, a separate approval under section 80G. Registration is not perpetual in the old sense; it has a validity and a renewal. Objects in the trust deed and objects on the portal should match. Commercial activity sitting inside a religious object is the usual stress point.
Application of income
Exemption is, broadly, for income applied to the objects, with a permitted accumulation and with conditions on how the rest is invested. Spending that cannot be shown, and deposits that cannot be traced to the permitted modes, are how assessments are built. Corpus donations have their own treatment.
GST and other laws
A trust that supplies goods or services for consideration may have a GST question independent of its income-tax registration. Shops, accommodation, and catering attached to a religious place are facts, not slogans. They should be classified as facts.