Charity Change

There is always something happening in this specialist sector and 2015 is no exception.

Accounting periods starting from 1st April 2005 are required to follow guidance from the new 2005 Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP); first published almost two years ago. This has brought up to date the annual reporting and disclosure requirements for charities.

On the same date, a new audit threshold came into force increasing the need for a formal audit for charities with income in excess of £1 million. Previously, the threshold requiring an audit was £500,000.

This change means that there is substantially reduced regulatory burden for charities and fewer charities will require their accounts to be formally audited. For those charities not requiring an audit, an independent examiner needs to be appointed where income is over £25,000 per year.

In addition, the chancellor recently introduced a simplification of the rules around Gift Aid. The process for donors giving to multiple charities via a single intermediary will be eased, along with intermediaries who collect donations from donors for various charities. The intermediary will now be allowed to use Gift Aid Declarations (GADs) to claim the Gift Aid on behalf of those individuals, thus alleviating the need for the charity to receive a GAD from a donor for each donation.

Finally, search and rescue charities have been given comparable VAT treatment to the established emergency services. Qualifying charities will now be able to benefit from refunds of VAT on the cost of some or all of the goods and services they purchase.

For further information contact Annie Lee, the firm’s charity client adviser.