Applying for Charity Recognition with HMRC - cha1 form

Adult Staff Execs
1

Hi,

We’re currently in the process of filling in the cha1 form from HMRC, to register as a charity, for the purposes of Gift Aid and other claims.

One request it has, is to send in to them “a form of governing document approved by a national association, parent body or principal regulator”

Can anyone shed any light on this for me please?

Many thanks in advance

C

2

i believe this was discussed in the old forum, wait one…

…found it
http://forums.aircadetcentral.net/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=23138

i’m not sure if that answers your question, or helps offer some backround, either way someone may well be able to come along to answer your question

3

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I do have our Sqn charity number, and i have successfully used it to setup charity giving sites, like MyDonate. However for us to be able to claim GiftAid, from this site, and generally, they are telling me that i must be registered with HMRC, who will give me a code, a login of sorts, to their Charities Online site. This site allows you to electronically claim back Gift Aid etc. This code is what links the Sqn charity number to HMRC, apparently.

The form they askl you to fill in is quite long winded, and asks if we were formed by a constitution or other set of “rules” and if so to include these “rules”, in the application. It also asks for our charity number.

Regards

C

4

Our governing document is normally taken to be AP1919, as it has the ‘consitution’ etc. and if I remember correctly, also has some gubbins about the GPF in it.

It is approved by our principal regulator, the Royal Air Force.

Edit: Not sure as we sorted Gift Aid out years ago, but are you sure you need to register as a charity? Your squadron already holds excepted charity status.

5

Hi,

Im not at all sure about the registration to be honest. The start of the process was a phone call to HMRC to explain who we are and what we wanted to do, eg claim Gift Aid. They said this was now all done online, via Charities Online, and that if we were already a charity, we would need to fill in form cha1, which would allow us to “register” for a login code for the Charity Online Website.

If there is another way to get this code, other than filling in the form as advised by HMRC, then im all for it, the form is horrible :slight_smile:

Regards

C

6

[quote=“redowling” post=12484]Our governing document is normally taken to be AP1919, as it has the ‘consitution’ etc. and if I remember correctly, also has some gubbins about the GPF in it.

It is approved by our principal regulator, the Royal Air Force.

Edit: Not sure as we sorted Gift Aid out years ago, but are you sure you need to register as a charity? Your squadron already holds excepted charity status.[/quote]

I did explain to them, roughly, the details held in AP1919 and also the Annex A, the Royal Warrant? But they seemed to want a more specific document, with the Sqns details on, rather than a general “statement”

C

7

Now you mention it, I think we did ‘register’ initially, and I think we sent them a copy of AP1919 as our governing document and a letter on Sqn headed paper explaining that we are an excepted charity under the ATC GP Fund, operated under the provisions in AP1919. I can’t remember what else we sent them, but our Chairman spoke with them on the phone and they seemed to work eveything out. We did get a desktop audit done on our first claim as it claimed for the past 4 years or so.

8

arr excellent - ill get back onto them, always useful to be able to quote an existing “case” to them

Thanks for that

C

9

Ok, for future reference in case it helps anyone else…

After another couple of phone calls, it would appear that they will accept the following as proof, all of them mind you, not just one.

3 months of bank statements
a copy letter head
charity number
the pages of AP1919 that detail the constitution
and the Royal Warrant in Annex A

Ill be sending them off in the next day or so and ill update to let people know if it was enough

Thanks to everyone that helped

C

10

Mmm, yes, that rings a bell - sounds very similar to what we had to send.

Worth it in the long run though, Gift Aid is worth about a grand a year for us.

11

Soooo, quick update! After sending all the forms AGAIN at the beginning of the year, we have finally, after more than 3 months, got our Gift Aid approval! In the end i had to chase it up by phone, and amazingly had a phone call the next day to say it had been processed!

So, there you go, worth the patience!

Cramar

12

Hi I’ve come across these posts regarding completing the HMRC cha1 form, we too are having issues completing the form and to date have been unable to get through to a HMRC adviser for information. I have sent a private message to Cramar but have not received a reply, is there another way of contacting Cramar, especially as they seem to have reached completion?