Be prepared, 31 January is the deadline for many charities to submit their annual return and accounts to the Charity Commission. This is a vital way to remain accountable to the public, and 96% of people say it is important to them that charities provide the public with information about how they spend their money. Failure to file is taken seriously by the commission and grant funders.
All registered charities have exactly 10 months from the end of their financial year to file their annual return and other documents, depending on the type of charity and/or their income. Here are some top tips to avoid making mistakes when filing.
1. Don’t leave it to the last moment. Failure to file on time is against the law – if you are ready to file, do it now. Deadline extensions are not offered, and if you fail to file on time your online register entry will be flagged red as being overdue. What charities need to submit depends on their income bracket. However, all charities must inform us of their income and expenditure. If you’re a charity with an income under £10,000, this is easily completed online, using your password. All charities must keep records of their accounts and provide them to the public if requested.
2. Use our new tool. You can now authorise your accountant, independent examiner or another person to file the charity’s accounts online for you. This new tool enables an easier process for third parties involved in the accounts process.
3. Income and expenditure figures must be recorded in whole pounds – not thousands of pounds, and no decimal points.
4. File your annual information online, using the online services. Attempts to file by way of a letter notification or by email will not be processed and your charity’s online register entry will be marked overdue.
5. The annual return prompts you to tell us if your accounts are qualified. Many people tick this box without reading what it means. Accounts are marked qualified when the independent examiner or auditor has doubts or concerns about some aspects of the accounts. This does not relate to the fitness of the individual scrutinising the accounts.
6. You need a password to access the annual return and other online services. All trustees must ensure they know who has the password and that it is handed over if the possessor leaves, otherwise it can be a time-consuming process. It is the trustees’ collective responsibility to file, even if the task is given to one person.
7. All registered charities must have a correspondent with us. If the correspondent leaves the charity, their last action should be to use the password to change their details to those of the incoming correspondent. Failure can lead to significant delay.
8. The annual return prompts you to tick to confirm that certain facts you entered are correct. Make sure you have ticked the boxes.
9. The annual return asks you to declare if you have a serious incident to report – this can only be done by the trustees. If the trustees are unsure whether to report a serious incident, or they only have a suspicion that something serious has occurred, they should still report it.
10. If you have all the information you need, completing your annual return should only take about 20 minutes – so get online, and file on time this January.
Got questions about annual information? Want to share how your charity remains accountable? Join in the Charity Commission’s live Twitter Q&A on Monday 26th January, 2-3pm. Tweet us with #fileontime.
