Tax obligations of a charity trustee

Getting involved as a charity trustee is a commendable and rewarding way of helping causes which you support and many charities rely on such volunteers. However there are significant responsibilities and potential liabilities which come with trusteeship especially when you are a tax professional. The recent case concerning Fashion for Relief and its trustees including model Naomi Campbell illustrated just how damaging bad publicity can be to all involved.

General points

Before getting into the tax specifics it is worthwhile pointing out that there are plenty of non-tax points to consider albeit that I’m not going into detail about them here. The Charity Commission provides some excellent guidance so make sure that you review your charity’s documentation in the light of that guidance.

It is important to understand the nature of the charity and your role within it keeping...