I-T department sends SMS, emails warning of bogus political donation claims

The Income Tax department has started sending SMS and email advisories to taxpayers for wrongful deduction claims related to unrecognised political parties or charitable institutions, the finance ministry said on Saturday.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said through data analysis it has observed that huge amount of bogus claims have been made on account of donation to Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs) or Charitable Institutions and reduced their tax obligations and have also claimed bogus refunds.

"A targeted NUDGE campaign has been launched as a taxpayer-friendly measure, providing them opportunity to update their ITRs and withdraw wrong claims, if any. SMSs and Email advisories are being issued from 12th December 2025 to such taxpayers on their registered mobile numbers and emails," the finance ministry said in a statement.

The CBDT said that evidence gathered from enforcement actions indicated that RUPPs, many of which were non-filers, non-operational at their registered addresses, and are not engaged in any political activity, were being used as conduits for routing funds, hawala transactions, cross border remittances, and issuing bogus receipts for donations. The CBDT carried out follow-up searches against some of these RUPPs and Trusts and gathered incriminating evidence in respect of bogus donations by individuals and bogus CSR by companies, it said.

CBDT's data analytics indicated that many taxpayers are suspected to be indulged in claiming deductions for donation made to suspicious entities or have not provided relevant information to ascertain the genuineness of the entities.

A large number of taxpayers have already revised their Income Tax Returns for the current AY that is 2025-26, and have filed updated ITRs for past years, it added.

"Every taxpayer is advised to ensure that correct mobile and email IDs are mentioned in their filings with the Department so that they do not miss out any communication," the CBDT said.