Claimed donations in your ITR? Here's why many are revising returns now

CBDT's NUDGE campaign prompts over 1.5 mn taxpayers to revise their returns as the tax department cracks down on donation claims linked to unrecognised political parties and trusts

 

More than 1.5 million taxpayers have revised their Income Tax returns (ITRs) for assessment year 2025–26 (AY26), following advisories issued by the tax department under its “NUDGE” campaign, PTI reported.

 

The campaign sent emails to taxpayers who may have wrongly claimed deductions or exemptions, particularly for donations made to unrecognised political parties and certain charitable institutions.

 

What the latest numbers show

 

According to the Income Tax department, over 1.5 million revised ITRs have been filed so far for AY26. In addition, more than 2.1 million taxpayers have opted to file updated returns during the current financial year, paying additional taxes of around Rs 25 crore, PTI reported.

 

 

Revised returns allow taxpayers to correct mistakes or omissions in their originally filed ITRs, while updated returns can be filed later, usually with an additional tax liability.

 

Why the tax department is flagging deductions

 

Earlier this month, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said it had identified a large number of bogus claims linked to donations made to Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs) and certain charitable trusts. These claims, the board noted, were used to reduce tax liabilities and, in some cases, to claim incorrect refunds.

 

According to the CBDT, enforcement actions revealed that many RUPPs were non-operational, did not file returns, or were not engaged in genuine political activity. Some of these entities were allegedly being used as conduits for routing funds, including hawala transactions and cross-border remittances, while issuing fake donation receipts.

 

The board also said follow-up searches were carried out against select RUPPs and trusts, leading to the discovery of incriminating evidence related to bogus donations by individuals and false corporate social responsibility (CSR) claims by companies, reported PTI.

 

NUDGE campaign

 

Following these findings, the CBDT launched the NUDGE campaign on December 12. Under this initiative, the department has been sending email and SMS advisories to identified taxpayers, asking them to review their deduction and exemption claims.

 

In its statement, the Income Tax department advised taxpayers to:

 

Review their filed ITRs carefully

 

Verify whether deductions and exemptions have been claimed correctly

 

Revise the return, if required, within the prescribed timeline

 

Taxpayers whose claims are genuine and in line with the law do not need to take any further action, the department clarified.

 

Key deadlines to keep in mind

 

The last date to file a revised return for AY 2025–26 is December 31, 2025. From January 1, taxpayers seeking to make changes will have to file an updated return instead, which may involve additional tax and penalties.

 

Individual taxpayers should review donation-related deductions carefully and correct any errors early to avoid scrutiny or further enquiries later.