CUSTOMS and Excise is planning a £4.5 million tax grab on the money raised by charity runners in this year’s London Marathon, a leading firm of accountants said yesterday.
Wilkins Kennedy said the department had thought up a new pretext for levying VAT on charities which pay “golden bonds” to guarantee places for sponsored runners taking part. “Customs is saying that if a charity takes into account the failure of a runner to meet last year’s pledge in allocating this year’s guaranteed places, then VAT could be payable on the sum pledged by all people running for that charity,” said James Selby, VAT director of Wilkins Kennedy.
Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of the Institute of Fundraising, said: “All charities have to do to avoid VAT is to refrain from asking runners to raise a minimum amount.”