Trust Registration: How to Register a Trust, Step by Step

To register a trust you draft the trust deed, pay your state's stamp duty on it, and have the settlor sign it before two witnesses. You then register it at the sub-registrar's office, and with the Charity Commissioner if your state has a public trust law. Then come the PAN, the bank account and, for a charitable trust, income-tax registration.

Before you start: which trust are you registering?

A private trust benefits named people, usually family. A public charitable or religious trust benefits the public. Steps 1 to 5 and step 7 apply to both. Steps 6 and 8 are for public trusts. If you have not chosen yet, read types of trust in India.

The steps, in order

1. Settle the basics. Decide the trust's name, the settlor (the person giving the property), the trustees, the address, the objects and the first property or sum of money. Two or more trustees is the usual practice.
2. Draft the deed. It should state the settlor and trustees, the objects, the beneficiaries or the class of public served, the trust property, how trustees are appointed and removed, how the bank account is operated, how accounts are kept, whether the trust is irrevocable, and what happens to the property if the trust ends.
3. Pay stamp duty. Stamp duty is a state tax on documents. Some states charge a fixed amount on a trust deed and others a percentage of the trust property. Check your own state's stamp schedule or the sub-registrar's office. Do not rely on a figure from another state.
4. Sign before witnesses. The settlor signs every page. The trustees sign to accept the trust. Two witnesses sign with their names and addresses. Sub-registrar offices ask for the witnesses' identity proof.
5. Register with the sub-registrar. Present the deed under the Registration Act, 1908 within four months of signing. Is this compulsory? If the trust holds immovable property, yes: section 5 of the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 says such a trust is not valid without a registered deed. For a trust holding only money, the law does not insist on it, but banks and the tax department expect a registered deed.
6. Register under your state's public trust law, if it has one. In Maharashtra, section 18 of the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950 requires a trustee to apply to the Deputy or Assistant Charity Commissioner within three months of creating the trust. Gujarat follows a similar system. A private family trust does not need this.
7. Get a PAN and open a bank account. From 1 April 2026 the PAN application for a trust is Form 94, which replaced Form 49A. A copy of the trust deed is the supporting document. The bank will ask for the registered deed, the PAN, a trustees' resolution and the trustees' KYC papers.
8. Apply for income-tax registration, if the trust is charitable or religious. Without it, the trust's surplus is taxed like anyone else's income and donors get no deduction. See the next section.

Income-tax registration: 12AB and 80G, and what replaced them

You have probably heard "get 12A and 80G". Those were sections of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Registration under section 12A, granted under 12AB, exempted the trust's income. Approval under section 80G let donors claim a deduction. The Income-tax Act, 2025 took over from 1 April 2026 and renumbered both.

What does a new trust do today? If it has not started any activity, it files Form 104 online on the e-filing portal, with a self-certified copy of the trust deed and a note on its proposed activities. The provisional order, Form 106, is generated seven days after filing. Provisional registration is valid for three tax years, or up to six months from the day activities begin, whichever is earlier.

Once activities start, the trust files Form 105 for regular registration within six months. Regular registration generally runs for five tax years. Published summaries of the department's FAQ say small organisations, with income up to Rs 5 crore in each of the two preceding years, get ten years. A trust that has already begun work skips Form 104 and files Form 105 directly.

A worked example: what registration is worth

Assumptions: the rules of the 1961 Act as they stood for FY 2025-26. A charitable trust receives Rs 12 lakh in donations in a year.

• The trust. With registration, it keeps its exemption if it spends at least 85% on its objects. That is Rs 10,20,000. It may carry the other Rs 1,80,000 forward. Without registration, whatever is left after expenses is taxable.
• The donor. A donor who gives Rs 1,00,000 to a trust with 80G approval could typically deduct 50%, Rs 50,000, within the overall limit. In the 30% slab under the old regime, that saves Rs 15,000 plus 4% cess: Rs 15,600. A donor on the new regime gets no deduction.

The 2025 Act keeps the same structure under new section numbers. Check the current conditions with a Tax Expert before you promise donors a benefit.

The mistakes people usually make

• Starting work first, applying later. Form 104 is only for trusts that have not begun activities. Missing the six-month window after starting can leave a gap with no exemption.
• Skipping registration of the deed when the trust holds land. An unregistered deed means the trust over that property is not valid.
• Stopping at the sub-registrar in a state with a public trust law. In Maharashtra the Charity Commissioner's registration is a separate legal duty, with a penalty for default.
• Vague or mixed objects. Objects that allow benefit to the settlor or trustees, or mix business with charity, invite questions at the tax registration stage.
• Budgeting only for the drafting fee. Stamp duty and registration fees are paid to the state, over and above what you pay a professional.

Can you do this yourself? The visit to the sub-registrar and the PAN application are routine. The deed and the tax application are where wording matters, and a rejected application costs months. What to do next: gather the settlor's PAN and Aadhaar, the trustees' PAN, Aadhaar and photographs, and address proof of the trust's premises.

Frequently asked questions

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