Although the government appears to be making some welcome concessions in respect of individual Gift Aid, corporate Gift Aid is less flexible due to the nine-month payment deadline and the potential for “wasted charitable donations”, both of which are enshrined in tax law.
Charity trading subsidiaries whose income has dropped off may therefore need to reflect, plan ahead and take early action in order to avoid:
- Unexpected corporation tax liabilities due to insufficient cash and/or distributable reserves to pay up previously generated profits; or
- Not being able to claim tax relief in respect of a previously made donation (a “wasted charitable donation”) due to insufficient profits.
Unexpected liabilities
The first scenario is likely to be the more common. The subsidiary may not yet have paid its taxable profits up to its parent charity, which must be done within nine months of the year end in order to be set against those profits for tax purposes.
The payment must be physically made in cash (not just an accounting entry), and there must be sufficient distributable reserves at the time of the payment. This is particularly important in the situation where a subsidiary is already “borrowing” reserves from the subsequent accounting period.
So, in the scenario where a previously profitable trading subsidiary is now likely to make a future trading loss, what options are available?
- If cash and reserves are still available, consider making any planned donations sooner rather than later, to ensure corporation tax relief can still be claimed against the previous year’s profits.
- Defer the payment and retain some profits and pay corporation tax at 19%, normally due nine months and one day after the year end. A planned retention of profits might be sensible if a full donation would leave the subsidiary in difficulty and the charity is unable to support it.
- Consider a carry back of future trading losses to the previous 12 months. Depending on timing, this may still result in cash flow issues, as any corporation tax for the earlier period would likely need to be paid prior to the loss carry-back claim. We would hope that under the circumstances it might be possible to agree an extended deferral with HMRC, where it can be demonstrated there will be losses available to carry back that would eliminate the liability.
- Could the parent charity make an investment in the trading subsidiary (most likely a loan)? Any cash from the parent charity must be an “approved charitable investment”. Broadly, any loan or investment is made for the benefit of the charity. This may be more difficult to demonstrate where the subsidiary is loss making, and therefore it is very important that revised business plans and forecasts are examined to ensure it is in the financial interest of the charity to support the subsidiary’s ongoing activities. Amongst other considerations, loans will usually need to carry a commercial interest rate and all decisions should be formally documented.
- Ideally any loan or investment should be made after any corporate Gift Aid payment, rather than as a short-term solution simply to allow this to be paid. HMRC has been known to object to such circularity in arrangements.
- Loans and investments will be simpler to justify where a primary purpose trade of the charity is being conducted through the trading subsidiary.
Wasted donations
Corporate Gift Aid/donations cannot create or increase a tax loss. As such, wasted donations (where donations exceed taxable profits) could result in a future difficulty making sufficient donations to eliminate a tax liability, due to depleted cash and reserves, but without the benefit of additional brought-forward tax losses.
We would recommend consideration is given to the charity making a repayment of any excess donations which are not necessary for corporation tax purposes, or otherwise reducing the planned donation (where this has not already been paid). Legal advice should also be sought if this is to be considered.
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