Consultation: Financial Thresholds in the Charities Acts - Proposals for Change

We undertook a survey of our members in relation to this consultation, and found that they agreed with the proposals that:
- the threshold for submitting annual accounts and TARs (Trustees Annual Reports) to the Charity Commission should be raised £10,000 to £25,000 - there should be a TAR preparation threshold of £25,000
- the £10,000 minimum threshold for external examination of accounts should be raised to £25,000, but no higher

But they disagreed with propsals that:
- the threshold for preparing accrucal accounts should be raised from £100,000 to £250,000 (although two thirds of respondants with an income of less than £1 million supported the increased threshold)
- the threshold income for having accounts audited should be raised from £500,000 to £1 million
- the threshold for stating that you are a registered charity should be raised from £10,000 to £25,000

CFDG's response:
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The Government has now published its response to the consultation, with these leading threshold changes:
- An increase in the threshold above which charities must prepare accruals accounts from £100,000 to £250,000. This will reduce burdens for around 11,700 charities.
- An increase in the threshold above which accounts must undergo external scrutiny from £10,000 to £25,000. Around 37,000 charities will no longer be required to have their accounts externally examined.
- An increase in the threshold from £10,000 to £25,000 for charities to submit annual accounts and the Trustees Annual Report (TAR) to the Charity Commission. This means that around 23,000 small charities will no longer be required to submit their accounts and TAR to the Commission.

For more information and the full Government response see:
www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/080827_redtape.aspx