A wide range of citizen-friendly initiatives, sponsored by both central and state governments, have been introduced in India. It might be challenging to determine who is actually qualified for a particular initiative in a nation with a population in the billions. Consequently, the government provides a wide range of certificates upon submission of adequate documentation. The Income Certificate is one such certification.
In this article, you will find all the information you need about Income certificates, including their purpose, appropriate use, application procedure, and more.
Income Certificate: What is it?
It is proof that an individual or family has earned a certain amount of money in a given year. This might be in the form of a salary, daily earnings, pensions, companies, property income, rent, or even international remittances. It is a legal document issued by the government that proves a person’s or a family’s financial stability. After analysing the application, affidavit, and accompanying documents, the official authority will provide a certificate of income to the applicant.
Income Certificate: Purpose
In addition to proving financial need, the income certificate may be used to access a wide range of State Government programs and services. Among them include, but are not restricted to:
- Educational institutions often set aside a certain number of slots in their student bodies for persons who come from lower-income families. Because they have this certificate, they can get entrance at a reduced fee or even for free in certain cases.
- Various organisations and governments provide grants and scholarships to elevate economically disadvantaged students.
- Access to medical advantages such as free or discounted treatment, subsidised medications, financial aid to parents who give birth to girl children, and other similar programs, among other similar programs.
- Obtaining loans from various government employers at an interest rate that is below the standard market rate.
- Offering assistance and support to those with various natural catastrophes and disasters has impacted them.
- Obtaining a pension of one’s choice, such as a widow’s, old-age, or agricultural labourer’s pension, amongst other types of pension.
- Making accessible to former service members various forms of financial assistance.
- Obtaining free rations, and so forth.
- Submit applications for employment in the public sector reserved for certain groups.
- Making claims to government-provided housing such as hostels, apartments, or other types of housing
Income Certificate: Income calculation
Income must be determined before an income certificate may be issued to an individual or household. The incomes of family members consist of the following:
- Compensation of employees in organisations
- Various pension
- Daily/weekly remuneration of a labourer
- Earnings from a business
- Fees for consulting
- Commissions of agency activity
- Any kind of recurrent financial rewards, such as:
- Employee bonus
- Deposit interest
- Earnings from share and equity markets
- Real estate rent
- Profits from the selling of property
- Dons and inherited property
The following technique will be used to determine the total amount of an individual’s or family’s income from all sources to issue an income certificate:
Earnings from a salary
To determine a salaried member’s income, all of their compensation, including their base salary, Dearness Allowance, special compensation, and additional allowances, if applicable, must be included. The TA, HRA, and any honoraria earned for special labour are not included in the compensation total.
Earnings from a business or profession
The calculation of business revenue, earnings from any profession, and income from consulting/agency activity of a family member are based on filing an Income Tax Return (ITR). If the individual is not an assessee, the income will be evaluated on the assessee’s declaration.
Retirement income
The Pension Payment Order, often known as the PPO, is the primary criterion that is used to determine income from a family member’s pension. However, it does not take into account commutation amounts.
Earnings from daily wages or labour
The declaration provided by the daily labourer will be considered when determining the daily and monthly wage income.
Income from property
Someone in the family might include rent or brokerage fees from real estate as income. Nonetheless, this is after yearly maintenance costs have been deducted.
Income Certificate: Application form structure and sections
A typical application for a Certificate of Income should include the following categories of information:
- Section for basic information, including name, address, date of birth, the purpose of the certificate, assets, revenue sources, and annual income.
- A self-declaration section
- Affidavit
- A photo ID, a utility bill showing your current address, a birth certificate, a land tax receipt, and a letter from your employer are all good examples of required paperwork.
Income Certificate: Procedure for obtaining one
Most states provide online applications for administrative certificates on specialised websites that may be accessed via the state administration’s portal. The following is the procedure:
- To submit an application for the certificate, you must go to the online portal designated for your state or district.
- Create an account on the site by providing a unique password and username, and then verify your identity using the cellphone number you provided.
- After logging into your account, search for a section labelled “Apply for income certificate” or a word of a similar kind.
- This will launch an online application for you, which requires your personal information to be filled out or submitted. Such details include:
- Name, age or date of birth, residence, gender, and other information may be requested.
- Proof of identification in the form of an Aadhar card, Voter’s ID, Driving licence, or a rations card is required.
- Religion, social caste, and social Subcaste
- Whether SC, ST, or OBC, and the details within those categories.
- As examples of acceptable proof of income, one may provide a parent’s income certificate, an income tax return, a Form 16 completed by an employer, a wage certificate, etc. (Gazetted government officers may be required to testify to the document)
- As evidence of your residence, you may use your rent payment, maintenance payment, power bill, telephone bill, or any other utility bill. (Gazetted government officers may be required to testify to the document)
- Affidavit stating that all of the application’s details have been checked out and found to be accurate.
Once all the necessary documents have been gathered, the application may be filed in person at the district authority’s office or electronically, depending on the resources available in the applicant state. Depending on the state the application is submitted to, there may be a small fee associated with it. After that, you should wait about 10–15 days for the certificate. You can keep an out for income certificate status in the meanwhile.
Income Certificate: Documents required
The documentation you need to get your income certificate may differ depending on your state. The following items are often included on the list of documentation that must be shown to acquire the income certificate:
- Documentation proving your identities, such as a voter Id, Aadhaar card, driving licence, passport, or photo identification card issued by either the Central Government or one of the states.
- Evidence of address, such as a voter Id, an Aadhaar card, a passport, a driver’s licence, or any other authorised document that is regarded as proof of address by either the Central government or the state government.
- Passport-size coloured photograph.
- Card for people with low incomes (BPL) or the National Food Security Card (if applicable)
- A self-declaration that the applicant or family head has signed.
Depending on the state government’s or union territory’s specific requirements, other documentation, including evidence of expenditures, may also be needed to complete the application process.
Income Certificate: Validity
The income certificate may only be used for the fiscal year that is specified on the certificate itself. To maintain the certificate’s credibility, it must be updated at the beginning of each new fiscal year. Additionally, to provide an updated income certificate, the previous certificate could be necessary for verification.
Income Certificate: Authorities issuing certificates for Indian states
| State | Issuing Authority |
| Andhra Pradesh | Tahsildar |
| Arunachal Pradesh | District Magistrate & Collector |
| Assam | Revenue Circle Officers |
| Bihar | Circle Officer of Circle Office |
| Chattisgarh | Naib Tahsildar |
| Goa | Mamlatdar of all Talukas |
| Gujarat | District Collector / Asst. Collector / / Deputy Collector / Prant Officer / Mamlatdar |
| Haryana | CRO (Tehsildar / Naib Tehsildar concerned) |
| Himachal Pradesh | Tahsildar of Revenue Department |
| Jharkhand | Sub-Divisional Officer in each District |
| Karnataka | Tahsildar |
| Kerala: | Village Officer / Tahsildar |
| Madhya Pradesh | Tahsildars / Naib Tahsildars |
| Maharashtra | Tahsildar |
| Manipur | District Authorities i/c DC / ADC / SDO (not below the rank of SDO / SDM) |
| Meghalaya | Employer in case of Govt. employee and by the MP / MLA / DC / SDO Civil in case of others. |
| Mizoram | District Magistrate or any other Officer authorised by District Magistrate |
| Nagaland | Dy. Commissioners, Addl. Dy. Commissioners and Sub-Divisional Officers (C) |
| Odisha | Revenue Officers |
| Punjab | CRO (Tehsildar / Naib Tehsildar concerned) |
| Rajasthan | Tahsildar / Notary |
| Sikkim | Special Executive Magistrate (Block Development Officers, Rural Management & Development Deptt.) |
| Tamil Nadu | Zonal Deputy Tahsildar |
| Tripura | Deputy Commissioner of respective Districts |
| Telengana | Tahsildar |
| Uttar Pradesh | Tahsildar |
| Uttaranchal: | Tahsildar / SDM / City Magistrate |
| West Bengal District Level | Dist. Magistrate or Addl. Dist. Magistrate |
| West Bengal Sub-Divisional Leve | Sub-Divisional Officer of the concerned |
| West Bengal Block Level | Block Development Officer of the concerned Blocks |
| West Bengal Kolkata Municipal Corp | The Collector, Kolkata |
Income Certificate: Authorities issuing certificates for Union territories
| UT | Issuing authority |
| Jammu & Kashmir | Sub-Divisional Magistrate (not below the rank of Tehsildar) |
| Andaman & Nicobar: | Tahsildar |
| Daman, Diu, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli: | Mamlatdar |
| Chandigarh: | Sub Divisional Magistrates |
| Delhi | Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Govt. of NCT of Delhi |
| Lakshadweep | Deputy Collectors in Agatti and Minicoy and SDO in the remaining Islands |
| Pondicherry | Tahsildar, Deputy Tahsildar |
FAQs
Who may submit an application for an income certificate?
There are no restrictions on who may submit an application for an income certificate. This certificate is available for application by business people, salaried workers, non-salaried individuals, widows, labourers, proprietors of consulting firms, agents, and others.
Are the EWS Certificate and the Income Certificate the same?
NO. Economically weaker category members are awarded an EWS certificate verifying their income and assets. The EWS certificate can only be obtained by first acquiring an income certificate.
Is the Agricultural Income Certificate the same thing as the Income Certificate?
No, the income certificate provides yearly revenue data from all sources, but an agriculture income certificate solely contains income details from agricultural operations.
Can a Non-Resident apply for the Income Certificate?
No, only permanent residents of the state or territory in question can get an income certificate. An applicant for a state income certificate must submit evidence of residency in that state. This means that obtaining an income certificate is restricted to legal state residents alone.
Does it require an Aadhaar to request a certificate of income?
When applying for an income certificate, the applicant must typically provide some kind of identification and address proof issued by the government. Nevertheless, nowadays, applicants for income certificates are required to provide their Aadhaar cards.