CTG Newsletter – 13 December 2017

Round-up of topical developments

• Tax Return: HMRC has published guidance on the new XBRL accounts taxonomy for charities. The charity ‘taxonomy’ has been created in line with the charity SORP (FRS 102) and the FRC’s financial reporting standard FRS 102. The taxonomy should be used to tag charity accounts for electronic filing and for other analytical purposes. HMRC has updated broader guidance on taxonomies it accepts.
• NCVO Tax Commission: NCVO has published Terms of Reference and timelines for its Tax Commission, with a Call for Evidence due to be published in February 2018. CTG will soon be meeting with the Commission Secretariat to discuss the best ways CTG members can provide feedback to this exercise. More details are available here.
• Finance (No. 2) Bill: The Bill passed Second Reading on Monday 11 December 2017. MPs will next consider the Bill in a Committee of the whole House. The Committee of the whole House is scheduled to take place over two days. The dates for the remaining stages have not yet been announced. A summary of provisions relevant to charities can be found here.
• HMRC VAT guidance notes on grants & contracts and sponsorship: At a recent meeting with HMRC officials, we were assured that the long-awaited updated guidance notes, to which CTG provided feedback on drafts, has been approved and should be published “shortly”.
• VAT on phone call donations: A parliamentary question by Mary Creagh (Lab) asks the Chancellor what estimate he has made of the amount accrued to the public purse from VAT on phone-call donations to charity in each of the last five financial years. No answer has been published yet.
• Making Tax Digital (MTD) readiness: HMRC has published a new research report on MTD following a survey of small businesses and landlords (charities and public sector organisations were not eligible for this research).
• Local Charities Day: DCMS has published a new web page outlining ways in which organisations and individuals can support Local Charities Day on 15 December 2017.
• National Lottery: The National Audit Office has published the results of its investigation into the fall in National Lottery income for good causes in 2016-17.
• Littlewoods case: HMRC has published brief setting out its position following the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Littlewoods Limited and others.

Get involved

CTG members are encouraged to

• Join the new Business Rates working group
• Join the Gift Aid practical issues working group in 2018 – read why here!
• 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 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) – send comments to info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk

What is everybody else reading?

In the past three months these have been the most read stories on the CTG website. Is there anything that your organisation needs to consider?

CTG Newsletter Archive

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

• CTG Newsletter – 8 December 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 4 December 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 30 November 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 24 November 2017
• CTG Budget Update – 22 November 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 21 November 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 17 November 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 14 November 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:

• 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.

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.

Charity Tax Group change of bank details

A reminder that CTG’s bank details have now changed and should be used for all transactions going forward.

A letter on headed paper, confirming the changes can be downloaded at https://www.charitytaxgroup.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Charity-Tax-Group-–-Change-of-Bank-Details.docx and there is notification of the change on the website here.

If you require any additional information or would like to discuss this further, please contact us at info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk or on 020 7222 1265.

We are very grateful to all members that have made a financial contribution towards our work in 2017 – this has been vital in ensuring we can continue to represent your interests to Government on important charity tax related issues. Donation forms will be circulated in early 2018 and we hope that you can continue to support our work.