BULLETIN APRIL 2008

Subscriptions to this bulletin are climbing, so if this is your first one.My name is Daryl Martin. I head up a team of charity specialists whose aim in life is to free you up to do what you are there to do. This is a monthly bulletin going out to our clients, friends, contacts, friends of friends (well you get the drift), to keep them in touch with charity law, and anything else that might be helpful for them to know about. If you have anything to do with the world of charities, please read on, there might be something to excite your attention, who knows.

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS:
So much going on in the charity sector these days that I am struggling to keep up with it all. I put everything I come across into a file and then distil what I think is important for you know about into this bulletin. After all 95% of the changes often only affect a small minority. If I can find some time I will create a more detailed digest for readers who want more detail.

NORTHERN IRELAND CHARITIES BILL:
Well this won't affect many readers. Suffice to say that the Bill is making good progress and could even be law by the Autumn. The new law will be very similar to the Charities Acts for the rest of the UK, slightly better even in parts. If your charity operates over there, you will need to register. We can do this for you easily enough.

WORKING FROM HOME - TAX ISSUES:
HMRC allowed homeworkers to claim £2 a week to cover their additional costs without receipts having to be produced. This has now gone up to £3 a week. If you work from home I have produced a Briefing on current HRMC thinking on what you can and can't claim for. You can download it from our website. (I would be glad of any comments as this is very much work in progress.)

RATE RELIEF FOR EMPTY PROPERTY:
Sandy Adirondack, (who carries out such awe inspiring work to keep charities up to date with legal issues etc) has advised us that the rules on rate relief for empty properties have been tightened up. If you have such a property check out her website.

CHARITY FUNDRAISERS:
A Cornish businessman was put away for 3 years for diverting £275,000 of funds he had raised for 2 charities into his own pocket. You might have thought someone would have noticed before it got this bad. Still, it shows fundraising is alive and well. If you employ a fundraiser make sure that you are properly protected. The latest Charities Act contains extensive references to fundraisers and their regulation. We don't do fundraising but have lots of experience in this area and are always happy to advise. (A friend of mine parked his fancy Rolls outside an evangelistic tent campaign some years back and went in with the express purpose of developing an appropriate scam (a sort of latter day Elmer Gantry). He promptly had a 'Damascus Road' conversion and has been on the side of the angels ever since.)

CHURCH ACCOUNTS SOFTWARE:
If you are thinking of upgrading your accounts software it's worth checking out: www.churchaccounting.co.uk. This particular package (Paxton) is so simple you don't need training, but if you do it's something we can happily provide.

COMPANIES HOUSE FILING:
Don't forget that accounts must now be filed within 9 months, not 10 as before, after which penalties are due. I heard this week that penalties are about to be substantially increased, so make sure you have a good company secretary service to make sure deadlines aren't missed. Contact us for more information about our service:

LIABILITY FOR TAX WHERE EMPLOYEE WRONGLY VIEWED AS SELF EMPLOYED:
From time to time I put out a warning that trustees mustn't get this wrong as penalties can be severe. In fact HMRC has been warning that it could deem the payments to the employee to be made net of tax and NI with no credit given for tax and NI already paid by the 'employee'. In other words they could charge tax twice. This loophole is now closed under the new Regulations operative from 6th April 2008.

UNFAIR DISMISSAL CLAIMS:
A victim support charity which, of all charities, should know better, fired 2 employees, one by letter and one by voicemail, and had to pay out £33,000 compensation for not following proper procedures. The law is there to protect good employees from bad employers and vice versa. If you have staff issues, get them sorted and take advice. Make sure you have good procedures in place and follow them. Contact us if you need help.

GIFT AID:
Gordon Brown is so keen that voluntary agencies maximise their Gift Aid income that donations to non-charities can be gift aided in some circumstances. We are talking here about community associations, playgroups etc. Gift aid can be channelled through umbrella charities that have the power to make grants to them. (Thanks to Third Sector for this)

CHRISTIAN RESOURCES EXHIBITION SANDOWN 13th to 16th MAY:
If you are planning to be there, let us know and we will send you as many complimentary tickets as you need, all free and valid across all 4 days. You can find us on stand S119.   E-mail Ruth for tickets.

AND FINALLY........

For reflection: Shortly before he was assassinated, Ghandhi gave his grandson Arun a talisman engraved 'Seven Blunders' out of which, he said, grows the violence that plagues the world. They were:

• Wealth without work
• Pleasure without conscience
• Knowledge without character
• Commerce without morality
• Science without humanity
• Worship without sacrifice
• Politics without principles

• Rights without responsibilities

PRAYER:
This is a prayer my wife prayed recently. 'Dear God, so far today, I've done alright. I haven't gossiped and I haven't lost my temper. I haven't been grumpy, nasty or selfish, and I'm really glad of that!
But in a few minutes I'm going to have to get out of bed, and from then on I'm going to need all the help you can give me. Thank you, amen'.
(Confession: It wasn't my wife, we don't pray in bed, we pray when we walk the dog, and anyway, she says it's a prayer I could usefully pray every day. I'm going back to bed right now!)