Charity Tax Group logo

CTG Newsletter – 24 January 2018

CTG Tax Conference (15 May 2018) – Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury confirmed as keynote speaker

We are delighted to confirm that the new Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Robert Jenrick MP, who has ministerial responsibility for charity taxation has accepted an invitation to address the CTG Tax Conference on 15 May 2018.

A full programme and registration details will be published in the next month or so, but please save the date in the meantime. We also expect officials from HMRC’s Making Tax Digital team to attend as well as range of topical updates on Gift Aid, VAT and other developments.

We would welcome feedback from members on previous events and any suggestions for speakers or topics at this year’s Conference via the comment box here.

HMRC VAT guidance on grants – register your interest in a dedicated CTG seminar

We reported last week that HMRC has published updated replacement VAT guidance on grants. This has generated a lot of interest among members and CTG is planning to hold a dedicated seminar in the next month or so to run through the different guidance sections and explain what the implications may be for charities.

The free seminar will be in London and is likely to be either a breakfast (8.30-10.30) or early evening  (17.00-19.00) session. Please register your interest and indicate any time preferences by e-mail to info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk. We will then aim to confirm a date later this week. Any CTG Observer Members interested in hosting this event should also get in touch.

We would welcome feedback and questions on the updated guidance from members (to info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk) and will also be providing further detailed written commentary next week.

Round-up of topical developments

  • Government Gateway replacement: Members of CTG’s Gift Aid practical issues working group have alerted each other to a notification by HMRC, to software suppliers, that the Government Gateway (through which Gift Aid and other tax claims are processed) is changing on 14 February 2018. We understand that this is in practice a fairly routine technical update that should be dealt with by your software suppliers, with limited impact on you, but it is worth checking with them to ensure there is little or no down-time for Charities Online claims for Gift Aid etc. There is no indication that the data entry or processing will be any different. If you have any queries or feedback on this issue please let us know at info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk.
  • Charity Commission funding: The Charity Commission has been awarded funding from the Government of £5 million per year to help it respond to significant increases in demand on its core regulatory functions, including registration and compliance. This funding has been awarded as a interim solution, while the Commission considers longer term, more sustainable funding models. This includes the regulator consulting on whether the largest charities (those with annual income of over £5m) should make a modest contribution to the Commission’s enabling work. The Commission now plans to launch a formal consultation later in the year.
  • Charity Commission Annual Public Meeting: CTG was represented at yesterday’s Charity Commission Annual Public Meeting, which included number of high-profile speeches:
  • Annual Return deadline: The Charity Commission has issued a reminder that if a charity’s financial year ends on 31 March 2017 they only have until 31 January 2018 to file their returns. The Charity Commission press release indicates that thousands of charities have already filed their returns, but there are still many that haven’t.
  • GDPR guidance: Three CTG Observer Member firms (Buzzacott, Crowe Clark Whitehill and Kingston Smith) have contributed to a new CFG guidance note on GDPR for charities.
  • Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS): A new watchdog has been launched to strengthen the UK’s defences against money laundering and terrorist financing. The Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) is based within the FCA and will work with all the UK’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) supervisors to help improve standards, and with law enforcement to strengthen cooperation.
  • National Apprenticeship Week 2018: This will take place from 5 to 9 March 2018. The theme of the week is Apprenticeships Work to showcase how apprenticeships work for employers, individuals, local communities and the wider economy. EFSA has put together a whole range of engaging resources to help you get involved with the week, visit its dedicated employer pages to find out more.

Get involved

CTG members are encouraged to:

  • 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).
  • Provide feedback on two key Gift Aid issues on which CTG has been asked to provide proposals to HMRC:
    • the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on Gift Aid, particularly in relation to the future of enduring declarations
    • what the future of Gift Aid looks like, considering issues such as how to maximise Gift Aid in the face of digital transformation.
  • 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! There is now a total of 55 charity members.
  • Help us to improve the Gift Aid donor benefits guidance – submit feedback here
  • 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).
  • 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
  • Register for the next Observer Member meeting on 1 March 2018 (Observer Members only)
  • Follow us on Twitter @CharityTaxGroup

Send any comments to info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk or call the Secretariat on 020 7222 1265.

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.

CTG continues its efforts to expand the number of charity members and would be very grateful if you could share details of membership with any charity sector contacts. Further information and a link to a downloadable promotional leaflet can be found here.

CTG Newsletter Archive

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

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

Expert Commentaries

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

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

[Apologies to any members who have been receiving duplicate copies of the newsletter. This problem has been logged as an urgent priority with our website provider and we hope to resolve it ASAP. We appreciate your patience while this is fixed]