HMRC claims fit and proper persons test a success

Finance | Kirsty Weakley | 19 May 2011

HM Revenue and Customs has revealed that it has had no complaints about the fit and proper persons test since it was introduced a year ago.

Speaking at the Charity Tax Group AGM, Andrew Edwards, head of charities at HMRC, said: “Whilst there might have been some concerns, in practice we have not had any problems.”

He gave an example of an instance where it meant HMRC alerted a charity to an unsuitable individual and said: “The charity trustees were eternally grateful to us for the fact that we were able to tell them in advance.”

Edwards also said that the test, which came into effect from 1 April, was necessary to prevent fraudulent charities claiming gift aid, particularly now EU-based charities are eligible to claim.

He said: “In the UK there is the Charity Commission and OSCR but a lot of countries do not regulate and we needed the ability to stand in the shoes of the Charity Commission and say that if we have got an organisation from abroad we need to see it behaving in a certain way.”

When the test was introduced as part of the Finance Act 2010, it was heavily criticised by charities and umbrella bodies because of the bureaucratic burden it placed on charities and the lack of a clear definition of what a ‘fit and proper person' was.

Assurances from government

The AGM also heard from MP Justine Greening, the economic secretary to the Treasury responsible for charities, who gave assurances that the sector was “at the heart” of the Big Society agenda.

She told delegates that the government was pleased with what it had achieved for charities in the last Budget but that it was still looking at ways to reform the tax system to encourage philanthropy.

Greening said: “The challenge for us all in the Treasury is to keep looking to see what we can do going forward.”

On the VAT disadvantage charities suffer in comparison to public sector bodies when delivering public services, she said the review of commissioning was ongoing and to “watch this space”.

Directory: Charity Tax Group | HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.