FA 2010, Sch 6 contained a new definition of charity. Charities claiming gift aid repayments have had to meet this new definition since 1 April 2010, but charities that do not claim gift aid but claim other tax reliefs and exemptions administered by HMRC must meet the new definition from 1 April 2012.
To continue to be eligible to the charity tax reliefs and exemptions, charities must:
- be charities under the law of England and Wales, or would be, if they were established in England and Wales; and
- be located in the UK or an EU Member State, Iceland or Norway; and
- be registered by the Charity Commission where the law requires, or be registered by a regulator equivalent to the Charity Commission in their home country if the law of the home country requires; and
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meet the ‘management condition’; broadly the people involved with the charity’s finances must be ‘fit and proper persons’.