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This website provides comprehensive information about how charities and donors are taxed in the UK.

If you are looking for a quick answer to a simple question, we recommend you try HMRC tax guidance for charities.

However, if you are looking for a deeper analysis or an impartial view you are in the right place.

Contents

Introduction

1 Policy Issues in Charity Taxation

2 Tax Avoidance and Evasion

3 Definitions of Charity

4 Taxation of Charity Income

5 Taxation of Charity Capital Gains

6 Charitable Expenditure Rules

7 Tainted Donation Rules

8 Trading by Charities

9 Trading Companies held by Charities

10 Business Sponsorship and Advertising

11 Corporate Charities

12 Employees and Beneficiaries of Charities

13 Acquisition of Companies

14 Double Taxation Treaties and Charities

15 Cash Gifts from Individual to Charity (Gift Aid)

16 Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme

17 Corporate Gift Aid

18 Giving by Business to Charity

19 Payroll Giving Scheme

20 Interest-Free Loans to Charity

21 Gift of Shares and Land to Charity

22 Gifts of Works of Art to Charity

23 Capital Gains Tax Relief on Disposals to Charity

24 Inheritance Tax Reliefs on Transfers to Charity

25 Charity Legacy Relief

26 Will Drafting

27 Charitable Gift of Share of Residue: Benham Issues

28 Obtaining IT and IHT Reliefs on Gift by Will or IoV

29 Variation of Wills

30 Benefits for Donors

31 Trusts with Some Charitable Element

32 Payments to Charity From Non-resident Trusts

33 Estates of Deceased Persons: CGT

34 Estates of Deceased Persons: Income Tax

35 VAT: Basic Concepts

36 Recovery of Input VAT

37 VAT: Exemption

38 VAT: Zero Rating

39 Stamp Duties

40 Rating Relief

41 Community Amateur Sports Clubs

42 Political Parties

43 Housing Associations

44 Local Authorities

45 Administration: Tax Returns and Claims

46 Appendix 1: International Entities: Approved Charitable Investments

47 Appendix 2: HMRC Model Gift Aid Declarations

48 Appendix 3: Retail Gift Aid: Template Letters

49 Appendix 4: Substantial Donor Rules

50 Appendix 5: Bibliography

51 Appendix 6: How to Improve the Taxation of Charities

52 Appendix 7: Deemed Charities and Eligible Bodies

53 Appendix 8: CASCs: Eligible Sports

About ToC Online

Most of this website requires you to login. To obtain a login licence you need a copy of the book associated with this site, Taxation of Charities and Nonprofit Organisations, and you can then register for the life of the edition and login. If you have not (yet) bought the book associated with this site, Taxation of Charities and Nonprofit Organisations, you may register for a free one day trial. There is no charge for a one day trial, but if you find the site useful, and wish to express support or thanks, the authors invite you to make a donation to the charity Water Aid.

You can however access the introduction and chapters 1 and 2, which concern general policy issues, without logging in.

Users may also contribute to the text or correct slips or errors, and if you see anything that needs correcting or expanding, please do. A copy of the next edition of our book will be given to the user who makes the most edits. User contributions are reviewed by Mary Ashley.

ToC Online is the online version of the book Taxation of Charities and Nonprofit Organisations by James Kessler QC and Oliver Marre. The initial data was the current edition of the book, published September 2015. There have been some significant updates since the book went to print.

If you want further advice

If you do not find the answer to your question in ToC online, or if you want advice on which you can legally rely, you may instruct James Kessler QC or Oliver Marre to advise. For further information see How to instruct James Kessler QC and Oliver Marre.

ToC archive editions

There are archive editions for years from 2009. These will occasionally be useful to investigate the tax position in those years, but the current edition will generally be the best starting point, as that has been written in the light of current HMRC guidance, and further thought and research.

Contact

If you have technical problems, or problems logging in click here

To contact James Kessler QC click here

To contact Mary Ashley, who reviews online contributions, click here

To contact the publishers of Taxation of Charities and Nonprofit Organisations click here

For multiple user licences, or to install on a firm's intranet contact the publishers

Technical notes

ToC online is in technical terms a Wiki on the lines of Wikipedia, but only registered users can edit this Wiki.

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