The Charities Regulatory Authority ("CRA") has recently issued "final notice" letters to over 1,400 registered charities. If your charity has not (1) created an online account with the CRA, (2) inputted all its registration information online and (3) submitted its annual report(s), you must take action immediately. 

The "final notice" letter issued by the CRA reminds charities that have not already done so to provide information for the public register with the CRA and to file their outstanding annual reports. Failure to complete these steps (listed below) may result in the removal of your charity from the Register of Charities. This update does not apply to your charity if you have already completed each of the three steps below. If your charity has received one of these letters, but no longer exists or no longer carries out activities as a charity, we recommend that you seek further advice or engage with the CRA. 

A simple way to check whether you have completed all necessary steps is to search for your charity on the CRA website.  If, when you search for your charity, all headings have been completed and you can see your charity's annual report(s) on screen, this means that you have already completed the three steps below and you do not need to do anything further at this time. If you cannot see this information, please proceed to complete the steps below immediately.

Three steps required to ensure compliance 

1. Set up an online account: An account must be created for the charity on the CRA website. This can be done using the PIN received from the CRA and an email address. Click here to create the account:

It is not enough to complete this step alone. Steps two and three must also be completed.

2. The registration phase: Once the account has been set up, you can log in to the charity's account to populate the form with a variety of information in relation to your charity, including details of its charitable purposes and objects, correspondence address and names and details of its charity trustees. You must also provide a signed declaration form.

3. The annual report phase:  This step requires you to submit outstanding annual reports detailing the charity's activities within a given reporting period, its beneficiaries and certain details about its income and expenditure. Once you have submitted all outstanding annual reports, remember to log in annually (within 10 months after your charity's financial year end) to complete the next annual report due.

It is only once all three of these steps have been completed that your charity is in full compliance with its registration and annual reporting obligations.

If your charity would like further detail about each of these steps, please refer to our recent updates. For guidance on the registration phase, click here, and for guidance with the annual reporting phase, click here

How Can We Help?

If your charity has not completed each of the above three steps, and you want your charity to continue carrying on charitable activities in the future, it must complete these steps immediately. Inaction in relation to completion of any of these steps may result in your charity being removed from the Register of Charities. If you received a final notice letter but your charity no longer exists or does not carry out charitable activities any more, we recommend that you seek further advice or liaise with the CRA. 

If your charity requires assistance with any of the above steps, we would be pleased to assist you. Please contact any member of our  Charities & Not-for-Profit team.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.