Income tax dept cancels registration of six Tata Trusts

The income tax department has cancelled the registration of six Tata Trusts, including Jamsetji Tata Trust, R.D. Tata Trust and Tata Education Trust, following their decision to surrender the same.
The Tata Trusts said the cancellation was a culmination of the decision taken by these six Trusts in 2015 to surrender their registration and to not claim the associated income tax exemptions.
The other Trusts are Tata Social Welfare Trust, Sarvajanik Seva Trust, and Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust.
“The decision to surrender the registration (an option available in law) was taken in the best interests of the Trust and to maximise the resources available to the Trust for their charitable work which is the principal object and focus of the Trusts,” Tata Trusts said in a statement on Friday.
According to the statement, the Office of the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Mumbai, by its order on Thursday cancelled the income tax registration of six Tata Trusts companies.
“While the tax department’s order has cancelled the Trusts’ registration with immediate effect, we believe that as a matter of law and consistent with the department’s own decision in the past, the cancellation should take effect from 2015, when the registrations were surrendered and the Trusts themselves consented to cancellation,” it said.
The Trusts are examining the order and will take necessary next steps in accordance with the law and the Trusts have effective legal options to vindicate their grievances against the order both factually and legally, it said.
“We would also like to clarify that Trusts have not received any demand notice from the income tax department pursuant to the cancellation order, as has been speculated in certain sections of the media. It is equally surprising how the issue of seizure of the Trusts’ assets has been raised today,” it said.
Since inception in 1892, Tata Trusts, India’s oldest philanthropic organisation, has played a pioneering role in bringing about an enduring difference in the lives of the communities it serves, it said.