The government has opened a consultation this week on charities tax compliance, designed to “help tackle non-compliance and protect the integrity of the sector”.
The consultation document says that the government believes most charities operate within the current guidelines, with that certain areas need to be reviewed “to allow HMRC to tackle the small group of charities who obtain reliefs in ways that aren’t intended”.
The consultation is open until 20 July, and covers 4 key areas:
preventing donors from obtaining a financial benefit from their donation
preventing abuse of the charitable investment rules
closing a gap in non-charitable expenditure rules
sanctioning charities that do not meet their filing and payment obligations
The intention, the document says, is to examine the impact on the sector of some of the proposed options and how they might interact with charities and community amateur sports clubs (CASCs). It seeks to gather views and evidence that will help determine the impact of the proposed changes, with the aim of “ensuring that charities and CASCs are spared unnecessary bureaucracy whilst allowing HMRC to effectively monitor the sector.”
Any changes, it states, are not to detract from the overall generosity of the reliefs or intended to catch out legitimate charities.
The consultation document can be found here, on the .Gov.uk site. It was announced as part of a broader range of tax measures published yesterday. The government also announced that it would continue to engage with charities to improve how Gift Aid works, to reduce the administrative burden brought through the use of digital technology.
