Guidance

Newsletter 1 — February 2023

Published 24 February 2023

1. Introduction

Following the 20th anniversary of the community and amateur sports club (CASC) scheme, this is the first publication of the CASC newsletter.

HMRC will keep you updated on developments likely to be of interest, and remind you to continuously maintain and monitor your eligibility to remain registered as CASCs.

The scheme was introduced in April 2002 for local amateur sports clubs to register with HMRC to benefit from a range of tax reliefs which were previously only available to charities.

CASCs continue to play an important role in community life, and the government remains committed to ensuring that volunteer-run, community-led grassroots sports clubs are supported and encouraged.

You can sign up to receive email alerts each time a newsletter is published.

1.1 Register and maintain eligibility

To register and maintain eligibility clubs must:

• be open to the whole community
• be organised on an amateur basis
• not exceed the income limit
• meet the management condition
• meet the location condition

Their main purpose must be the:

• provision of facilities
• promotion of participation

in one or more eligible sports.

Find detailed guidance about CASCs.

2. HMRC’s Trust Registration Service and sports clubs

Sports clubs that hold their property on trust should be aware that there are new reporting requirements relating to trusts.

From 1 September 2022, most types of UK trusts are required to register with HMRC’s Trust Registration Service. Club property is often held on trust, with one or more members of the club acting as trustees. If this is the case, the trustees should register the trust with HMRC.

HMRC cannot confirm whether a specific club does hold their property on trust. You should review your arrangements and determine, to the best of your understanding, whether your property is held within a trust. Typically, the existence of a trust may be evidenced by the existence of a document known as a trust deed or declaration of trust.

If you decide that the property is not held within a trust then no registration is required. If you are uncertain, you may wish to keep a note of the reasons for your decision for your own records. Clubs will not be penalised for failure to register a registerable trust if you have taken all reasonable steps to review the guidance and decided in good faith that there was no requirement to register.

Information on registration conditions can be found through register a trust if you’re a trustee.

Find out about the types of trusts that need to be registered.

If required, you can register their trusts on the Trust Registration Service by following the guidance at register a trust as a trustee.

3. Guidance refresher for CASCs and sporting charities

We would like to remind you that Gift Aid can only be claimed on freewill donations that are not linked to the membership of a CASC.

Membership fees cannot be regarded as donations, this is because the membership will allow the individual access to the club facilities. Regular subscriptions to a CASC are regarded as memberships for the purposes of Gift Aid.

This guidance also applies to sporting charities, such as junior football clubs where the regular subscriptions made by the parent, allow the child access to club facilities such as training sessions.

Further guidance about membership fees and subscriptions can be found in:

• sections 3.37.2 and 3.37.3 of the gift aid guidance for charities
• section 4.1.2 of the detailed guidance notes for CASCs

4. CASC aggregate donations update

On 7 October 2022 an update was made to the guidance on how to claim tax back on donations using Charities Online to correct a publishing error regarding CASC aggregate donations.

The update corrected information to confirm that Charities Online gives you the option to add together small donations of £20 or less, up to a total of £1,000 per entry in line with the guidance in section 6.6.10 of the claims and returns guidance notes for CASCs. This was previously incorrectly published at £30.

If this publishing error has resulted in your CASC submitting inaccurate claims, contact the charities and community amateur sports clubs helpline.

For aggregated donations, details for individual donations don’t have to be provided to HMRC however you still have a requirement to keep evidence of the donation and obtain a gift aid declaration from the donor.

5. Reminders

5.1 Corporation Tax return

If you have received a letter to complete a Corporation Tax return you must complete this. Even if your club is exempt from Corporation Tax, you must still provide HMRC with details of your expenditure within this tax return. Find out more information about Corporation Tax and VAT rules for CASCs.

5.2 Change of details form

If you have any changes within the CASC you must complete a change of details form (ChV1) to inform HMRC of the changes.

These changes could be:

• a change of contact details
• a change of address
• a change of officials details
• changes in bank details

Find information about when to use and how to complete a change of details form (ChV1).