Main Page

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

If you are looking for a quick answer to a straightforward question, we recommend HMRC tax guidance for charities or HMRC detailed guidance notes.

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

Contents

Update

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 Companies held by Charities

10 Business Sponsorship and Advertising

11 Charitable Companies

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 Donations Scheme

17 Corporate Gift Aid

18 Giving by Businesses to Charity

19 Payroll Giving Scheme

20 Interest-Free Loans to Charity

21 Gifts of Shares/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 Gifts 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 Social Investment Relief

46 Administration: Tax Returns and Claims

47 Appendix 1: International Entity Securities: Approved Charitable Investments

48 Appendix 2: HMRC Model Gift Aid Declarations

49 Appendix 3: Retail Gift Aid: Template Letters

50 Appendix 4: CASCs: Eligible Sports

51 Appendix 5: Deemed Charities and National Bodies

52 Appendix 6: Accreditation of Social Impact Contractors

53 Appendix 7: Substantial Donor Rules

54 Appendix 8: How to Improve the Taxation of Charities

55 Appendix 9: Bibliography

New 2017/18 edition

The text is based on Taxation of Charities and Nonprofit Organisations 2017/18 edition.

To access ToC online you need a licence, which comes with copy of the book. To order the book, go to the publishers online ordering; or click here.

Licences for the old edition are no longer valid.

How to login

Most of this site requires you to login.

• To obtain a login licence you need to order 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 £10 - £20 donation to the charity Water Aid.

• Without logging in you can access: Introduction, chap 1 Policy Issues in Charity Taxation and chap 2 Tax Avoidance and Evasion.

How to comment

Users may also contribute to the text, 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 Rebecca Foy.

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 any of the authors to advise. They are James Kessler QC, Etienne Wong and Ross Birkbeck. See How to instruct James Kessler QC, Etienne Wong and Mary Ashley.

Archive editions

There are archive editions for years from 2005/06. 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 Etienne Wong, who is responsible for the VAT chapters, click here

To contact Rebecca Foy, 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 the text.

Site hosting and management by Highwire