Budget 2010 – Extending UK Charity Tax Reliefs
The Chancellor has announced the extension of UK charity tax reliefs to certain organisations which are equivalent to UK charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) in the EU, Norway and Iceland. This announcement follows a European Court of Justice Judgement on this matter in January 2009.
A number of other changes relevant to charities will also be made including:
- The alignment of the definition of a charity across all charity tax reliefs and charity exemptions administered by HMRC
- Limiting the scope for fraudulent claims to charitable tax reliefs
- The removal of inconsistencies in the current rules
- Seeking to ensure that HMRC can maintain a cost efficient service to charities
The new definition of a charity will apply to donations made by individuals on or after 6 April 2010. The changes relating to donations received under Payroll Giving and payments made by UK charities to non-UK bodies will apply from 24 March 2010. The other new rules will mostly have effect later in 2010/11, subject to a commencement order.