Subject to a transition period until April 2024 for existing qualifying charities, from 15 March 2023 the availability of UK tax reliefs for charities is restricted to UK charities only. The application of VAT reliefs for charities will not be affected.

As the UK is no longer part of the EU, it now enjoys greater freedom when setting rates of VAT than was allowed under the VAT Directive. Charities already benefit from the reduced rate of VAT where their fuel and power are used for non-business purposes.

Additional tax reliefs, besides Gift Aid, that may be claimed can be found in the Finance Act 2010 at the following link:

Finance Act 2010 (legislation.gov.uk)

The Government does not hold information on charities’ activities. The powers within the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 impose a statutory duty on HMRC to maintain taxpayer confidentiality, which means that it cannot comment on the affairs of individual charities. This includes how much charities have received in support through tax reliefs.

Restricting charitable tax reliefs to UK charities is not expected to have any impact on the level of donations to UK causes from overseas donors. Overseas donors will be able to continue supporting UK charities and causes in exactly the same way as they have always done.

From Spring Budget government restricted UK charitable tax reliefs to UK charities and CASCs. This means that EU/EEA charities will no longer be able access reliefs.

There were around 5 charities and CASCs that submitted claims in each of the years from 2018/19 to 2021/22. Due to the low numbers, we have combined charities and CASCs. The total value of Gift Aid paid to EU/EEA charities and CASCs across that period from 2018/19 until 2021/22 was £1.3m. This can be broken down as; £0.5m in 2019, £0.4m in 2020, £0.1m in 2021, and £0.2m in 2022.

There are approximately 25 EU/EEA charities that applied for recognition and were accepted as charities by HMRC since 2013 (due to data retention policies, we do not have complete data on applications before 2013). During that same period approximately 35 charity applications for recognition were rejected which included 30 EU/EEA charities and 5 from charities located outside the UK and EU/EEA.

The numbers have not been divided by nationality due to the low numbers of charities applying as releasing the detail requested would pose a reasonable risk of disclosing information relating to one or more "charities" who could be identified from it.

From Spring Budget government restricted UK charitable tax reliefs to UK charities and CASCs. This means that EU/EEA charities will no longer be able access reliefs.

There were around 5 charities and CASCs that submitted claims in each of the years from 2018/19 to 2021/22. Due to the low numbers, we have combined charities and CASCs. The total value of Gift Aid paid to EU/EEA charities and CASCs across that period from 2018/19 until 2021/22 was £1.3m. This can be broken down as; £0.5m in 2019, £0.4m in 2020, £0.1m in 2021, and £0.2m in 2022.

There are approximately 25 EU/EEA charities that applied for recognition and were accepted as charities by HMRC since 2013 (due to data retention policies, we do not have complete data on applications before 2013). During that same period approximately 35 charity applications for recognition were rejected which included 30 EU/EEA charities and 5 from charities located outside the UK and EU/EEA.

The numbers have not been divided by nationality due to the low numbers of charities applying as releasing the detail requested would pose a reasonable risk of disclosing information relating to one or more "charities" who could be identified from it.

We recognise this is a worrying time for many organisations that are facing pressures due to the cost-of-living crisis and the Treasury regularly engages DCMS on policy matters that impact sectors for which DCMS are responsible, including charities. We do not hold specific data on the number of times this was discussed in meetings during 2022.

To tackle the cost-of-living crisis, the Government is already taking very significant action across the United Kingdom. Through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS), the government is providing a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices for all non-domestic consumers, including charities. This is a temporary measure that protects them from soaring energy costs and applies to energy usage for six months from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. The ongoing HMT-led review of the EBRS will determine support for UK non-domestic energy consumers beyond these six months, with the aim of reducing the public finances’ exposure to volatile international energy prices from April 2023. The Chancellor will announce the outcome of this review shortly to ensure businesses have sufficient certainty about future support before the current scheme ends in March 2023.

This builds upon the support for charities that the Government announced during the pandemic, which included a £750 million dedicated funding package that helped organisations across the UK respond to the impact of Covid-19.