Sector summary ― charities

Produced by a Tolley Value Added Tax expert
Value Added Tax
Guidance

Sector summary ― charities

Produced by a Tolley Value Added Tax expert
Value Added Tax
Guidance
imgtext

This guidance note provides a summary of key VAT issues of relevance to the charity sector.

Areas covered include:

  1. an introduction to the sector

  2. the VAT meaning of a charity

  3. business and non-business activities

  4. the link between supply and consideration (including grants, donations and sponsorship)

  5. the VAT liability of a charity’s business supplies

  6. registering for VAT

  7. VAT reliefs for charity expenditure

  8. land and property

  9. the implications of incorrectly claimed VAT relief

  10. VAT recovery - including non-business expenditure, partial exemption and the charity special refund scheme

  11. key case law

Introduction to the sector

Amongst non-VAT specialists there is sometimes, an assumption that charities do not pay VAT or are not really affected by VAT. This assumption is false.

The charity sector faces some of the most complex VAT issues of any part of the economy.

In addition to other considerations, a typical charity will have to make difficult technical decisions about:

  1. whether income is derived from a ‘business’ activity

  2. the

Continue reading the full document
To gain access to additional expert tax guidance, workflow tools, generative tax AI, and tax research, register for a free trial of Tolley+™
Powered by Tolley+

Popular Articles

Repairs and renewals

Repairs and renewalsThe key consideration in determining whether expenditure on repairs and renewals is allowable as a deduction for tax purposes is whether it is capital or revenue in nature. In some cases, it can be relatively straightforward to identify revenue repairs. HMRC provides the

14 Jul 2020 13:23 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more

First year allowances

First year allowancesFirst year allowances (FYAs) are available on the following items:•first-year relief on qualifying new main rate plant and machinery (at 100%, which is described by HMRC as ‘full expensing’) and special rate assets (at 50%) from 1 April 2023 (companies only). These FYAs were

14 Jul 2020 11:41 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more

Bare trusts ― income tax and CGT

Bare trusts ― income tax and CGTThis guidance note explains how trustees of bare trusts are treated for income tax and capital gains purposes. Although a bare trust is, in equity, a type of trust, for both income tax and capital gains tax purposes its existence is transparent. This means that no tax

14 Jul 2020 15:34 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more