CTG Newsletter – 17 February 2017

CTG Tax Conference programme finalised

The programme for this year’s Tax Conference has now been finalised and will include sessions on issues including Gift Aid, VAT, Brexit and Making Tax Digital, with the keynote speech by Jane Ellison MP, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Minister responsible for charity taxation.

Over 150 people have already registered for the Conference and only a limited number of tickets are left. If you want to attend please register online ASAP or contact info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk. Tickets will be allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Have you paid enough tax to ‘cover’ your Gift Aid donations?

HMRC is very keen to ensure that Gift Aid donors are paying enough tax to reduce the amount of Gift Aid claimed incorrectly. The public therefore need to be better equipped to know if they can or cannot make charitable donations with Gift Aid added. A new commentary by CTG Vice-Chairman Kevin Russell explores why some donors are not paying enough tax to cover their Gift Aid donations, and suggests ways to improve donor education.

VAT case law tracker updated

CTG’s VAT case law tracker has been updated and now incorporates all significant VAT litigation (concluded and ongoing) reported on the website in the last year. If you have any suggested updates additions or comments please contact us at info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk.

Making Tax Digital

Responding to a call for evidence by the House of Lords Economic Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee on the Government’s recent proposals on Making Tax Digital (MTD), CTG has submitted a short briefing highlighting concerns that charity trading subsidiaries are not to be included in the general exemption from MTD reporting requirements.

Tax relief on church property and State Aid

Advovate General Kokott has given an Opinion in the Congregación de Escuelas Pías Provincia Betania case (C-74/16) which finds that that exempting the Catholic Church from the tax on constructions, installations and works in Spain is not State Aid where the exemption relates to work on buildings intended to be used for economic activities that do not have a strictly religious purpose.

Northern Ireland Business Rates Review

CTG has submitted a response to the Northern Ireland Executive’s consultation on proposals as part of its review of the business rates system. The response fully endorsed representations by [CTG member] the Charity Retail Association (CRA) and by the #MoreThanAShop campaign, which call for the protection of existing charity rate reliefs in Northern Ireland.

Meetings tracker

• 21 February 2017 – Observer Member meeting (5 places remaining)
• 28 March 2017 – Annual Tax Conference (11 places remaining)

Consultations tracker

CTG will be preparing responses to a number of important consultations over the next few months. Our consultation responses rely on input from members and we would encourage you to send us your thoughts, and where relevant submit your own consultation response. The deadlines for forthcoming consultations are outlined below. Please send your feedback via the relevant consultation page on the CTG website or to info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk.

• Ongoing – Insurance Premium Tax survey (CTG)
• Ongoing – Discretionary Charity Business Rates Relief (CTG)
• 27 February 2017 – Institute for Apprenticeships (DfE)
• 7 March 2017 – Withdrawal of Extra Statutory Concessions (HMRC)
• 20 March 2017 – Review of VAT Rates (European Commission)

You can also read CTG’s recent pre-Budget submission here.

CTG Newsletter Archive

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

• CTG Newsletter – 15 February 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 10 February 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 6 February 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 1 February 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 30 January 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 26 January 2017
• CTG Newsletter – 23 January 2017

CTG Commentaries

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

• Have you paid enough tax to cover your Gift Aid donations? (Kevin Russell)
• Off-payroll working: Major changes from April 2017 (Susan Ball)
• Holding companies are required to raise management fees in order to ensure VAT recovery (Dermot Rafferty)
• Update on “Economic Activity” and the fate of the Lord Fisher test (Graham Elliott)
• Filing charity trading subsidiary tax returns and charity accounts (Justin Bevan)
• Update on the Adecco temporary workers VAT case (Deloitte)
• 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.

Help to promote CTG in 2017

Do you have colleagues/friends in other charities that would benefit from receiving CTG’s newsletters? If so, please share this link to a page with full details about membership. Thank you again for supporting CTG in 2017.

Website accounts

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.

Follow CTG on Twitter @CharityTaxGroup