The Income Tax department has begun sending SMS and email alerts to taxpayers as a ‘friendly measure’, urging them to update their income tax returns and withdraw any incorrect claims, according to a notification from the Finance Ministry on Saturday.

The notice comes after the Income Tax Department‘s crackdown on intermediaries, who filed fraudulent claims related to donations to Registered Unrecognised Political Parties or charitable organisations, resulting in a reduction of their tax obligation.

“A targeted NUDGE campaign has been launched as a taxpayer friendly measure, providing them opportunity to update their ITRs and withdraw wrong claims if any. SMSs and Email advisories are being issued from 12th December 2025 to such taxpayers on their registered mobile numbers and emails,” the notice read.

The Ministry noted, “It was observed that huge amount of bogus claims have been made on account of donation to Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs) or Charitable Institutions and reduced their tax obligations and have also claimed bogus refunds.”

Enforcement actions revealed that many Registered Unrecognised Political Parties were non-filers, non-operational at their registered addresses, and were not engaged in any political activity.

These entities were used for routing funds, hawala transactions, cross-border remittances and issuing fake donation receipts. The follow-up searches conducted by the Department led to incriminating evidence of bogus donations and CSR activities by individuals and companies, the Finance Ministry said.

Data analytics revealed that many taxpayers are suspected of claiming deductions for donations to questionable entities or failing to provide sufficient information to verify the legitimacy of these entities, it noted.

Highlighting the department stringent stance on bogus claims, the notice read, “CBDT has strengthened its data-driven approach to early detection of suspicious claims and identification of high-risk behaviour patterns, one such risk pattern has been identified for taxpayers who have made claims under section 80GGC or 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. ”

What are sections 80GGC or 80G of IT Act?

Section 80GGC details tax deductions for donations made by taxpayers to political parties or electoral trusts with the aim to promote transparency in electoral funding.

Meanwhile, Section 80G provides tax deductions for donations made to approved funds, trusts, and charitable institutions etc.

What does the Finance Ministry suggest?

“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. Additional information on deduction provisions and filing of Updated Returns is available at www.incometax.gov.in,” the Ministry noted.