Author: DCAS

Company Tax Returns

Image result for charity company tax returnCompany Tax Returns

You must complete a Company Tax Return if your charity is a limited company or unincorporated association when this is required by HM Revenue and Customs. You need to include the supplementary pages for charities and community amateur sports clubs (CASCs).

A charity is a limited company if it was set up by a:

  • constitution
  • memorandum and articles of association
  • royal charter or Act of Parliament

Limited companies must also send annual accounts to Companies House. You must complete a tax return when HMRC asks you to, even if no tax is due. You may have to pay a penalty if your tax return is late or you don’t complete one when you should.

You can find more information about charities and tax here

Pay Rates for Apprentices

guilds3If you become an apprentice, you will be paid during your during your apprenticeship.  You’re entitled to the National Minimum Wage.

The current minimum wage rate for an apprentice is £3.50 per hour (rising to £3.70 in April 2018)

This rate applies to apprentices under 19 and those aged 19 or over who are in their first year.

You must be paid at least the minimum wage rate for your age if you’re an apprentice aged 19 or over and have completed your first year.

Year 21 to 24 18 to 20 Under 18 Apprentice
April 2017 (current) £7.05 £5.60 £4.05 £3.50
 From April 2018 £7.38 £5.90 £4.20 £3.70

You can find more about apprentice pay and conditions here

How to remove a trustee from the board

IntegrityCheck your charity’s governing document to see if it has a procedure for removing trustees.

You usually need a good reason to remove a trustee, such as if they have done something that damages your charity’s reputation.

If your charity is a company, you have the right to remove a director, providing you follow the correct procedures. You have this right under the Companies Act 2006, regardless of what else is written in your articles of association.

You can hold a vote of no confidence to encourage someone to resign as a trustee. This could be part of your charity’s rules for removing a trustee, or written into its governing document. If it isn’t part of your charity’s rules, the vote has no legal power and the trustee won’t have to resign.

More details can be found here

Why is a reserves policy important?

A Reserves Policy explains to existing and potential funders, donors, beneficiaries and other stakeholders why a charity is holding a particular amount of reserves.

A good reserves policy gives confidence to stakeholders that the charity’s finances are being properly managed and will also provide an indicator of future funding needs and its overall resilience.

The Charities SORP requires a statement of a charity’s reserves policy within its annual report. In addition, if a charity operates without a reserves policy, the regulations require this fact to be stated in the annual report.

You can find out much more here

Changing Your Charity’s Governing Document

Change your charity’s governing document

You can apply to change your charity’s governing document. 

Before you start

You must:

You’ll need:

  • details of the changes you want to make
  • reasons for the changes
  • the date the changes were accepted by Companies House, if your charity is a company and you already have consent from the Charity Commission

You may be asked to upload your governing document as a PDF as part of the online application.

More detailed information can be found here

National Minimum Wage Changes

The hourly rate for the minimum wage depends on your age and whether you’re an apprentice.

You must be at least:

  • school leaving age to get the National Minimum Wage
  • aged 25 to get the National Living Wage – the minimum wage will still apply for workers aged 24 and under

These rates are for the National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage. The rates change every April.

Year 25 and over 21 to 24 18 to 20 Under 18 Apprentice
April 2017 (current) £7.50 £7.05 £5.60 £4.05 £3.50
April 2018 £7.83 £7.38 £5.90 £4.20 £3.70

More detailed information can be found here

Updating Your Tax Code

You may be put on an emergency tax code if you change jobs. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will correct it automatically after you’ve given your employer details of your previous income or pension.

Your employer will get these details from your P45 – if you don’t have one, they should ask you for further information.

HMRC will also update your tax code when:

After your tax code changes

HMRC will adjust your tax code so you pay the right amount of tax across the year. They’ll write to you or email you when your tax code has been updated.

They will also tell your employer or pension provider that your tax code has changed. Your next payslip should show:

  • your new tax code
  • adjustments to your pay if you were paying the wrong amount of tax

Find out more here

Charity Registration

When to apply to register your charity

Usually, you must register with the Charity Commission if your charity is based in England or Wales and has over £5,000 income per year.  The commission will take action to secure compliance if it identifies a charity which isn’t registered but should be.

If your charity is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) it must register whatever its income.

Charities that don’t have to register

Small unincorporated charities

If your charity is based in England and Wales and isn’t a CIO, you don’t have to apply to register it if its annual income is less than £5,000.  But you can still apply to HM Revenue and Customs for recognition as a charity to get charity tax breaks and claim gift aid.

You can apply to the commission to register this sort of charity voluntarily, but the commission will only consider applications in exceptional circumstances.  For example, if you can prove that your charity has been offered significant funds but has to provide a registered charity number before it can receive the funds.

More details can be found here

Back to Work – but who is a worker?

Happy New Year everyone!  Now we are all back at work, maybe it’s time to clarify who is a ‘worker’ in your organisationLego Worker

A person is generally classed as a ‘worker’ if

  • they have a contract or other arrangement to do work or services personally for a reward (your contract doesn’t have to be written)
  • their reward is for money or a benefit in kind, for example the promise of a contract or future work
  • they only have a limited right to send someone else to do the work (subcontract)
  • they have to turn up for work even if they don’t want to
  • their employer has to have work for them to do as long as the contract or arrangement lasts
  • they aren’t doing the work as part of their own limited company in an arrangement where the ‘employer’ is actually a customer or client

Employment rights

Workers are entitled to certain employment rights, including:

  • getting the National Minimum Wage
  • protection against unlawful deductions from wages
  • the statutory minimum level of paid holiday
  • the statutory minimum length of rest breaks
  • to not work more than 48 hours on average per week or to opt out of this right if they choose
  • protection against unlawful discrimination
  • protection for ‘whistleblowing’ – reporting wrongdoing in the workplace
  • to not be treated less favourably if they work part-time

More details can be found here