Summary of this article
CBDT flagged wrongful claims on donations to political parties, trusts
Launch campaign to nudge taxpayers to revise, correct return filings
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has flagged bogus claims for donations to political parties and charitable organisations. The Income Tax department has started sending SMS and email alerts to taxpayers to nudge them into correcting their return filings.
“A targeted NUDGE campaign has been launched as a taxpayer-friendly measure, providing them an opportunity to update their ITRs (income tax returns) and withdraw wrong claims, if any. SMSs and Email advisories are being issued from December 12, 2025 to such taxpayers on their registered mobile numbers and emails” CBDT said in a release.
CBDT said it has observed a huge number of bogus claims having been made on the pretext of donations to registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs) or charitable institutions. These bogus refund claims were made to reduce tax obligations.
CBDT added that it has also gathered evidence from enforcement actions which indicates that RUPPs were being used as conduits to route funds, hawala transactions, cross-border remittances, and issue bogus receipts as donations. Many of these RUPPs were not operational at their registered addresses, were non-filers, and not engaged in any political activity.
The income tax department also carried out follow-up searches against some of the RUPPs and trusts. From these searches, the department said it gathered incriminating evidence that bogus donations were made by both individuals and even companies under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) processes.
CBDT said a large number of taxpayers have already revised their ITRs for assessment year (AY) 2026 and have filed updated ITRs for previous years.
“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,” CBDT said.
How to Update ITR
The deadline to file updated ITRs for AY 2026 is December 31, 2025. To update or revise your ITR, login to the e-filing portal of the IT department website. Next, navigate to e-file option, select the ‘income tax return’ option, then to file ‘income tax return’.
Select your assessment year for which you wish to revise your return. Choose the ‘Revised return under section 139(5)’ option and go to ‘Revised’ as filing type. Enter the acknowledgement number and date of the original return. Revise your details and corrections needed. Submit the return and e-verify within 30 days of filing the revised return.
