Companies can make charitable donations and save money on their Corporation Tax bill. The beneficiaries can be either charities or community amateur sports clubs (CASC). Essentially the amount you donate is deducted from your pre-tax business profit, therefore reducing the amount of tax your company pays.
Charity donations from your company
There are various types of contributions that your company can make. Some of these are:
- Money
- Equipment
- Trading stock (items you make or sell)
- Land, property and shares in another company
- Employee time (seconding employees)
You can also fund charities and CASCs through sponsorship. The money you give is classed as sponsorship if you receive something of material value above certain limits set by HMRC. The limits are in the table below.
Donating money
There are rules which you need to adhere by for the donation to qualify as tax free.
Your payment won’t qualify if:
- It is a loan that will be repaid by the charity;
- The payment is on the condition that the charity buys property from your company or anyone connected to it; or
- The Payment is a distribution of company profits i.e. dividends.
There are also restrictions on payments if you, your company, or any connected person receives anything in return for the donation.
There are maximum values for benefits given in return for the donation:
| Donation value | Maximum allowable benefit value |
| £100 or less | 25% of the donation value |
| £101 to £1,000 | £25 |
| £1,001 or more | 5% of the donation value (to a maximum of £2,500) |
If you receive benefits that are of a higher value than stated in the above table, your donation is then classed as a Sponsorship Payment. We analyse Sponsorship Payments below.
Equipment
Your company can give used equipment to a charity, donating items such as:
- Office furniture
- Computers and printers
- Vans and cars
- Tools and machinery
You can claim the full capital allowances on the cost of the used equipment you donate through your company tax return.
Trading stock
Trading stock is items your company makes and sells. When you donate company trading stock you can deduct the full cost of the items from your business profits before you pay tax.
If you are VAT registered, you need to account for the VAT on the items you donate. You can apply zero VAT to the items (even if you normally charge the standard or reduced rate) if the donated items are specifically for sale, hire or export by the charity. That way you can reclaim the VAT on the cost of the items you donate.
Land, property and shares
If you give or sell land, property or shares in another company (a company other than your own), you don’t have to pay tax on capital gains and you can deduct the market value of the gift from your business profits pre-tax. You will need to ascertain the market value of land, property and unlisted shares.
If you donate or sell to a CASC, you don’t pay tax on capital gains but you can’t deduct the market value of the gift from your pre-tax business profits.
Records
All records that relate to the donation that evidence the gift or sale to the charity must be retained for at least six years. The records required are detailed below:
| Land or property | Shares |
| A letter or certificate from the charity which contains: A description of the land or property; The date of the gift or sale (the disposal date); and A statement confirming that it now owns the land or property. | A stock transfer form showing the transfer of shares from your Company’s name into the Charity’s name. |
When you offer a gift of land, property or shares, the charity may ask you to sell the gift on its behalf. In this instance you are required to retain records of the gift and the charity’s request – without this, you may be required to pay Corporation Tax.
Employee time (seconding employees)
If your company temporarily transfers an employee (secondment) or an employee volunteers for a charity in work time, you can deduct any costs as normal business expenses.
Continue to pay the employee (which can be yourself) and run PAYE on the salary as usual. You can deduct the costs (including wages and business expenses) from your taxable profits as if they are working for you as normal.
You can’t claim the costs if they volunteer or are seconded to a CASC.
Record the hours spend in secondment or volunteering as you would normally within your timesheets or other recording system to enable you to pay them as normal. Ensure the time is allocated to the Charity rather than your clients.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship is when you give to charity and your business gains something related to the business in return.
You deduct sponsorship payments from your business profits pre-tax by treating them as business expenses and therefore reducing your corporation tax.
Sponsorship payments qualify as business expenses if the charity:
- Publicly supports your products or services;
- Allows you to use their logo in your own material;
- Allows you to sell your goods or services at their event or premises; or
- Links from their website to yours.
SRC-Time are one of the South East’s leading accountancy firms in advising the self-employed and partnerships in all aspects of their tax affairs and we are able to assist in any issue raised above.
Our expert team is available to provide you with advice and can be contacted on 01273 326 556 or you can drop us an email at info@src-time.co.uk or speak with an account manager to get any process started.
