Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC)

Thinking of registering as one?

Key points:

• If turnover is less than £50,000 or property income is up to £30,000 a year, there may be no tax on profits.

• No limit on the amount of trading income you can earn from members, but you can’t earn more than £100,000 a year from trading with non-members and from rent.

• If the money comes from members with full voting rights, you also won’t pay tax on income from membership fees, and profits from selling food and drink relating to the club’s sporting activities, eg a members bar.

• You’ll have to pay tax on the full amount, after deducting any allowable expenses, if your trading or rental income is more than the relief limits.

• CASCs cannot pay more than £10,000 in total to all their players in a single year

Membership

• Membership fees can’t be more than £31 a week (£1,612 a year), and if membership fees and sporting activity cost are more than £10 a week, you must provide help, for example a discount to reduce those costs to £10 a week for people who can’t pay more.

• If a club charges any member more than £1,612 a year for membership fees then it would not be considered open to the whole community. The club would not be eligible for CASC status even if they offered discounted or cheaper memberships to other members.

• If the total cost of membership (the most expensive annual membership fee + the total cost of participating in activities throughout the year incl specialist clothing and equipment) is greater thab £520 annually, then it will be required to make provisions for those who cannot afford to pay more than £520 a year. If no suitable arrangements are made then this club will not be able to be a CASC because it is not open to the whole community.

Participation

At least 50% of a club’s members must participate in sport at the club.

Registration

• Once registered as a CASC, a club cannot apply to be recognised as a charity. To convert a registered CASC to a charity involves closing down (winding up) the CASC and transferring over the assets and activities to a new charity.

• It’s important that your club is already meeting these conditions in practice before registration. It’s not enough to explain what you plan to do once you have CASC registration. we cannot be satisfied that your club is suitable unless it is already run in a CASC compliant way.

• To be registered as a CASC your sports club must 1. be open to the whole community; 2. be organised on an amateur basis; 3. have as its main purpose the provision of facilities for, and the promotion of participation in, one or more eligible sports; 4. not exceed the income limit; 5. meet the management condition; and 6. meet the location condition.

More information is available on HMRC’s site HERE.

(04 April 2023)