Tax when your limited company gives to charity

Skip contents

Equipment and trading stock

Your limited company pays less Corporation Tax if it gives equipment or items it makes or sells (‘trading stock’) to a charity or community amateur sports club (CASC).

Giving equipment

You can claim full capital allowances on the cost of equipment.

To qualify, the equipment must have been used by your company. This includes things like:

  • office furniture
  • computers and printers
  • vans and cars
  • tools and machinery

Giving trading stock

If your company donates its trading stock to a charity or CASC, you don’t have to include anything in your sales income for the value of the gift. This means you get tax relief on the cost of the stock you’ve given away.

VAT

If your company is VAT-registered, you’ll need to account for VAT on the items you give away.

However, you can apply zero VAT to the items - even if you normally charge the standard or reduced rate - if your company makes the donation specifically so that the charity can:

  • sell the items
  • hire out the items
  • export the items

This means you can reclaim the VAT on the cost of the trading stock you donate.

If you can’t zero rate the items, use the VAT rate you normally apply to them.