The Charities Regulatory Authority (CRA) has set a deadline of 16th April by which time all charities must have complied with certain registration and reporting requirements. There are 3 key requirements that must be met by this deadline.
- Registering as a charity with the CRA
Regardless of your size, your income or your legal structure, by law you MUST apply for registration as a charity by 16 April 2016. If you had a CHY number from Revenue prior to 16th October 2014 you should be automatically registered with the CRA but please be sure to double check on the CRA website.
- Complete your entry on the Register of Charities
This entry is completed by logging into the CRA website using the details previously sent to you by post from the CRA and includes such details as the name and address of the charity, the charitable purpose, and the activities of the charity. Some of this information has been pre populated with information received by the CRA from the Revenue Commissioners and needs to be reviewed by you to ensure everything is correct.
- File your first report with the CRA
The annual return is completed by logging into your account on the CRA website. In the annual return process you will be required to:
- Provide details of your charity’s activities during the reporting period
- Provide income and expenditure information about your charity
- Upload accounts and reports as pdfs for the period
- Make a declaration that your charity’s details are up to date and your annual return in complete.
If you need any assistance with the above please refer to the CRA website at https://www.charitiesregulatoryauthority.ie/Website/CRA/CRAweb.nsf/page/index-en or contact Ormsby & Rhodes.
