Educational institutions, hospitals, charitable and religious trusts will soon have to file the online application for seeking income tax exemption, the I-T department said Monday.

The department sought comments from stakeholders by November 12 on the amended rules and application forms seeking tax exemptions by such entities.

"In view of the digital advancement that the government in general, and the income tax department in particular, have made, it is imperative that manual filing of these applications should be done away with so, as to ensure not only faster processing of the same but also to reduce interface between the department and the applicant," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.

The application for exemption should be accompanied by self certified copy of registration with the registrar of companies or registrar of firms and societies or registrar of public trusts as the case may be, along with the copies of accounts and balance sheet.