CTG Newsletter – 11 January 2018

Ministerial reshuffle – new Minister responsible for charity taxation

Robert Jenrick MP has been announced as the new Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (a role which has ministerial responsibility for charities, the voluntary sector and Gift Aid). His predecessor, Andrew Jones MP, has been appointed as a new Conservative Party Vice-Chair. Robert Jenrick is now the 9th Minister responsible for charity taxation since May 2010.

Robert has been the Conservative MP for Newark since the 5 June 2014 by-election. He has served on the Health Select Committee and been a PPS to a number of Ministers including most recently Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary.  He is the Treasurer of the British Museum APPG.

Robert was born in Wolverhampton in 1982 and grew up in Shropshire and Herefordshire. He went to school at Wolverhampton Grammar School. He read History at St. John’s College, Cambridge University, gaining a First Class degree. With a Thouron scholarship he then spent a year in the USA, studying Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Returning to the UK he studied and then practised law, advising businesses and governments on corporate law in London and Moscow. He went on to pursue a business career, holding a range of senior commercial management roles at Christie’s.

HM Treasury has published a press release welcoming the new ministerial team. Elizabeth Truss remains as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Mel Stride remains Financial Secretary to the Treasury. John Glen is the new Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

Yorkshire Agricultural Society VAT case

The First-tier Tribunal has released its decision in Yorkshire Agricultural Society [TC06263]  a case which concerned whether certain events provided free of charge by a charity are part of its overall economic activities. You can read a commentary on the case by Dermot Rafferty, Indirect Tax Senior Manager at EY, here.

Making Tax Digital

CTG representatives will be meeting HMRC officials next week to discuss the draft legislation and VAT Notice that will introduce Making Tax Digital for VAT. We will be discussing the practical implications of the new digital interface and ways in which charities can become involved in the planned pilot this Spring. If you have any particular questions or queries you would like us to pass on to officials or would be interested in volunteering for the pilot, please contact us at info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk

CTG website and newsletters

Charity and Observer Members are reminded that their membership is on an organisational basis and that there is no limit of the number of subscribers to the website per organisation. If you think a colleague would benefit from getting access to the website and newsletters directly, please encourage them to register online at www.charitytaxgroup.org.uk/join-us/ selecting your organisation from the drop-down box.

Gift Aid reform proposals

CTG’s Vice-Chairman, Richard Bray’s recent commentary highlights that CTG is now well represented on the HMRC Charity Tax Forum working group looking at ways to ensure that the Gift Aid system is fit for the future. As part of this group, CTG members have agreed to write two papers considering:

1. the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on Gift Aid, particularly in relation to the future of enduring declarations
2. what the future of Gift Aid looks like, considering issues such as how to maximise Gift Aid in the face of digital transformation.

We would welcome feedback from members on these topics (to info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk), so that we can ensure that the issues highlighted by both articles are representative of those being faced by the sector as a whole.

Get involved

CTG members are encouraged to:

• Share their feedback on how their charity has been affected by the Apprenticeship Levy so far (e.g. cost so far, amount of levy used or expected to be used). A fifth of firms currently paying the apprenticeship levy plan to write it off to tax, rather than provide apprenticeships, and more than half want it replaced with a training levy, according to a survey by CIPD which identified widespread dissatisfaction with the way the levy operates.
• Save the date of the Tax Conference – 15 May 2018.  We would welcome feedback from members on previous events and any suggestions for speakers or topics at next year’s Conference via the comment box here.
• Join the new Business Rates working group or tell us if you receive any correspondence from local councils reviewing any of your existing reliefs. The group will be considering a response to the consultation on business rates in multi-occupied properties (the deadline for comments is 23 February 2018)
• Join the Gift Aid practical issues working group in 2018 – read why here!
• Provide feedback on the draft legislation and VAT Notice that will introduce Making Tax Digital for VAT (the deadline for comments is 9 February 2018)
• Help us to improve the Gift Aid donor benefits guidance – submit feedback here
• Share their experience of a practical or technical charity tax issue by writing a commentary
• Share details of any challenges to VAT zero rating on advertising by agencies
• Share your experiences of registering with the Trusts Registration Service

Send any comments to info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk or call the Secretariat on 02072221265.

CTG Newsletter Archive

Members can catch up on CTG’s recent newsletters using the links below:

• CTG Newsletter – 9 January 2018
• CTG Newsletter – 3 January 2018
• CTG Newsletter – 20 December 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 18 December 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 13 December 2017

CTG’s VAT case law tracker has also been recently updated.

Expert Commentaries

Read our expert commentary pieces and leave your comments and queries:

• Yorkshire Agricultural Society VAT case – certain free events are not economic activities (Dermot Rafferty)
• LIFE Services VAT case on the welfare exemption (Graham Elliott)
• 2017 Gift Aid round-up (Richard Bray)
• VAT case relating to ‘single supply’ and zero rated printed material (Graham Elliott)
• Corporate Criminal Offence – implications for charities (Ian Short and Tania Dimitrovich-Archer)
• Definition of a ‘sport’ for VAT purposes – English Bridge Union case (Graham Elliott)
• Relevant Residential and Relevant Charitable buildings: Clawback provisions – Balhousie Holdings case (Graham Elliott)
• Proposed new penalties for participation in VAT fraud (Edd Thompson and Juliet Bailey)
• Summary of recent VAT cases on partial exemption, sports supplies & charitable annexes (Graham Elliott)
• Benefits of joining the CTG Gift Aid practical issues working group (Keren Caird and Donna Perry)
• Iberdrola VAT case – Implications for Sveda? (Dermot Rafferty)
• Is a CASC a Charity (for Tax Purposes)? (Graham Elliott)
• Charity VAT Recovery – The Road Not Taken (Graham Elliott)
• VAT recovery for holding companies – MVM case and HMRC guidance (Dermot Rafferty)
• Professional negligence and failed tax avoidance schemes (Sonia Ferreira)
• Definition of a ‘sport’ for VAT purposes – new AG opinion (Graham Elliott)
• Business rates valuations for museums (Colin Hunter)
• First experience of submitting a Common Reporting Standard (CRS) return (CTG)
• Construction of Relevant Charitable Purpose (RCP) buildings – position of sub-contractors (Les Howard)
• Supplies to local authorities – Healthwatch Hampshire VAT case (Graham Elliott)
• Brockenhurst College VAT case – implications for charities (Graham Elliott)
• Filing charity trading subsidiary tax returns and charity accounts (Justin Bevan)
• Adecco appeal on the VAT treatment of temporary workers dismissed (Graham Elliott)
• Have you paid enough tax to cover your Gift Aid donations? (Kevin Russell)
• Off-payroll working: Major changes from April 2017 (Susan Ball)
• Update on “Economic Activity” and the fate of the Lord Fisher test (Graham Elliott)
• Durham Cathedral VAT case and Sveda – implications for charities (Graham Elliott)
• Hire fees for stalls at fairs – implications of the Kati Zombory-Moldovan case (Graham Elliott)
• Common Reporting Standard – Top 10 tips for charities (Alana Petraske)
• Charity Authorised Investment Fund (CAIF) launched (Grania Baird)
• Longridge on the Thames VAT case – implications for charities (Graham Elliott)
• Implications of Brexit for charity tax (John Hemming)
• Implications of the Hallé case for the philanthropic exemption (Graham Elliott)
• Helping you find your way – the new Charity Tax Group website (John Hemming)

Please contact us at info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk if you would be interested in contributing a commentary piece.