Tax liabilities of society/trust for religious activity
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 12 September 2018
This query is : Open
A well settled Hindu family of over 11 generations from West Bengal engages internally in an annual religious festival for 240+ years. Over the years, as the family grew, the finances passed down from previous generations got distributed and at present were derived from interest incomes on normal fixed deposit accounts distributed among several family members so as not to affect individual tax liabilities(A mutual agreement). Due to the complexities of present time and involvement of a lot of members, the arrangement has proved extremely unmanageable to maintain with the required integrity by the current generation leading to various disagreements and problems diluting the actual intentions.
A motion was proposed among the stake holders to liquidate the existing distributed arrangement and form a centralized arrangement for effectively managing and sourcing funds. The income of this setup will be through internal contributions/donations among the family members and interest income from that. What options are available for the stake holders to legally operate only for the said religious purpose and what tax liabilities will be imposed.
Isaac Gabriel
(Expert) 15 September 2018
it is advisable to go in to form a trust to be managed by the stakeholders.
