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The Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe T.D. is pleased to announce today (Monday) that, in line with his Budget 2018 commitment, funds will soon be distributed to charitable organisations in respect of a proportion of the VAT incurred by them in the procurement of goods and services associated with their activities.

In September, Revenue confirmed that over 900 timely VAT claims, totalling almost €49m in respect of 2019, were made by charities under the Charities VAT Compensation Scheme. The scheme aims to reduce the VAT burden on charities and to partially compensate them for VAT paid in the day to day running of their activities. This is the second year of the scheme.

In 2018, the Minister announced that, in recognition of the work undertaken by the charities, he was making available a fund of €5m each year to provide compensation for the VAT they incur on their inputs. The scheme began in 2018, and applies to VAT paid on qualifying expenditure on or after 1 January 2018. Charities can submit one claim per year relation to VAT paid in the previous year only. Claims can be submitted between 1 January and 30 June each year.

Revenue is undertaking a risk-based claims review process in respect of the scheme. This review process is ongoing and has identified some incorrect claims. Similar to last year, the main error this year relates to the inclusion of public funding in the amounts represented in the claim as qualifying income. Revenue expects to distribute the pro-rata refund amounts this month.

Minister Donohoe said: ‘Continued thanks to all those involved within the charities sector, who have worked closely with officials, and the Revenue Commissioners for their work to allow the scheme to function. This close co-operation will allow for the continued refinement of the administration and operation of the scheme, which judging by the demand, is viewed as being of real benefit to the sector.”