Community amateur sports club

The Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) scheme was introduced in 2002 by the then Labour government to support grass roots sport. The original legislation was drafted by Andrew Phillips. It recognises the importance of sport in the community by allowing local amateur sports clubs to register with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as a sports club rather than a business for rates and tax purposes. As such, clubs can benefit from a range of tax reliefs, including Gift Aid and rate relief. Both property and non-property owning clubs can significantly benefit from the scheme.

A community amateur sports club (CASC) in the United Kingdom is an amateur sports club eligible for favourable treatment for taxation purposes, with some similarities to charitable status. The benefits include eligibility for Gift Aid tax relief on donations, relief from at least 80% of business rates, and special treatment for capital gains tax and corporation tax purposes.

The main criteria for registration are:

More than 6,200 clubs, including more than 425 rugby clubs, are registered as CASCs.

The Sport and Recreation Alliance (formerly the Central Council for Physical Recreation) maintains an information service cascinfo.co.uk which provides information about the CASC system.

Following the issuing of a consultation document by Her Majesty's Treasury in 2001, the Sport and Recreation Alliance (then CCPR) - who had campaigned for tax relief for clubs since 1999 - provided HMT with two proposals to help local sports clubs which HMT accepted:

On 30 November 2001, the Charity Commission announced that it would now recognise as charitable: "The promotion of community participation in healthy recreation by the provision of facilities for the playing of particular sports."

Then on 17 April 2002, in his Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer introduced a package of tax reliefs to support Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) as an alternative route for those CASCs unable or unwilling to apply for charitable status.

In 2002 the CASC scheme was established in Schedule 18 of the Finance Act with effect from April 2002 but has since been replaced with Chapter 9 Part 13 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010. CASCs were granted the opportunity to claim Gift Aid on donations meaning up to an additional £28 for every £100 donated. Since 6 April 2011 the amount that can be reclaimed has been reduced to £25 for every £100 donated.

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Wikipedia