Charity Registration: Important Information
Thursday 31 July 2008
Churches will already be aware that they need to register with the Charity Commission if their annual income exceeds £100,000. The Commission intends to begin these registrations from 1 October, although the relevant legislation has been delayed until January. The Commission plans to register all of these churches by 1 October 2009.
We have been working with the Commission to produce a timetable for Baptist Churches to submit their applications. If your church has not already told us when you plan to submit your application please email this information to jevans@baptist.org.uk.
It is anticipated that most churches that have used the Approved Governing Document will be able to register using the Charity Commission’s Online Application for Registration (OLAR). The Charity Commission has recently published further information about charity registration for churches which can be found here: www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registration/regreq.asp.
New BUC guideline leaflets are being prepared to assist churches with the registration process. These leaflets will take churches through the application forms step by step. They will be called:
C27 Registering as a Charity Online
C28 Registering as a Charity – Postal Applications
We are finalising the leaflets but have been awaiting final details from the Charity Commission. They will be on the website as soon as possible, hopefully during September.
The Commission has told us that minor changes will be made to the current online application from 1 October and the new C27 leaflet will reflect these changes. At the time of preparing this note more information is becoming available on the Charity Commission website, we will be doing all we can to keep up to date with the arrangements and to provide information that will be helpful to you.
