Does my small charity have to file anything at all?
- Time1 hour
- CostFree
- Doing itYou can do this yourself
It depends on income and structure together, not income alone. If you are a CIO, both the annual return and the annual report are due whatever your income — the thresholds everyone quotes do not apply to you. And below a threshold does not mean exempt: for the annual report, it means the duty is triggered by a request from the Commission instead.
Do this first
- Work out your financial period and your first-year deadlines
- money-09 (not yet published)
England and Wales: researched. Scotland: researched — there is no income floor at all; see below. Northern Ireland: not researched for this step; do not read the England and Wales position across. Whether a Northern Ireland registration threshold is now in force could not be confirmed against a primary source — see below.
Two axes, not one
Every guide leads with the income figures, which makes the duty look like a single sliding scale. It is not. What you owe depends on your income and your legal structure, and the structure can override the income entirely.
England and Wales, at a glance
| Gross income | Unincorporated charity or company | CIO |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £10,000 | No annual return. Annual report only if the Commission asks. | Annual return and annual report, both due. |
| Above that, up to £25,000 | Annual return due. Annual report only if the Commission asks. | Annual return and annual report, both due. |
| Above £25,000 | Annual return and annual report, both due. | Annual return and annual report, both due. |
The CIO column is the same all the way down. That is the point of the table.
The most consequential mistake in this part of the guide
A small CIO assuming the income thresholds protect it.
They do not, and the reason it catches people is structural: the carve-outs sit in two different sections, in parentheses, after the figures. Section 163(3) disapplies the annual return and annual report thresholds for a CIO. Section 169(2) ends with the words “but this subsection does not apply if the charity is constituted as a CIO.” Neither is where you would look if you were reading for the number.
A CIO with almost no income owes a full annual report and an annual return, from its first year, permanently. A CIO that believes otherwise starts accruing defaults immediately and usually finds out only years later.
“Under the threshold” does not mean “exempt”
For the annual report, being below the line does not remove the duty — it converts it into a request-triggered one. The Commission can ask, and the deadline then depends on when it asked: a request made before the end of month seven gives you within 10 months from the end of the financial year; a request made after that gives you within 3 months from the DATE OF THE REQUEST instead.
So a charity that has never filed a report and receives a request in month nine has within 3 months from the DATE OF THE REQUEST to produce one, not the comfortable 10 months it may have been assuming.
Scotland: there is no floor
Every charity on the Scottish Charity Register files everything, every year, from nothing upwards. The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 s.44 duty carries no income qualification at all. Any English figure you have read is simply irrelevant to a Scottish charity.
Northern Ireland: not established
This step was not researched for Northern Ireland, and that gap is itself worth naming rather than guessing past. Income bands apply at the accounts level, but whether a registration threshold affecting filing is now in force could not be confirmed against a primary source: a proposed threshold was approved and preparatory material was published, but no commencement was traceable at the time of research. If your charity is near the margin in Northern Ireland, ask CCNI directly rather than relying on a figure circulating in the sector.
Write down which duties apply, and why
One paragraph in the minutes: your income for the year, your structure, and the filings that follow from combining the two. It takes a few minutes, and it is the document that shows the trustees turned their minds to the question — worth having if the answer later turns out to have been wrong.
Common mistake: a small CIO assuming the income thresholds protect it
Every guide leads with the income figures, and the CIO carve-outs sit in parentheses in two different sections. Section 163(3) and section 169(2) both override the thresholds for a CIO. A CIO with almost no income owes a full annual report and an annual return.
Common mistake: reading “under the threshold” as “exempt”
That is how it is universally summarised. Section 163(2) converts the duty into a request-triggered one on a sliding deadline, not an exemption. A request arriving late gives only within 3 months from the DATE OF THE REQUEST, not the 10 months a charity above the trigger gets automatically.
Worked example
Wrenfield Village Hall and Tollgate Youth CIO have identical income and identical activities — Wrenfield is an unincorporated association, Tollgate is a CIO. Tollgate owes a full annual report within 10 months of its year end, and an annual return. Wrenfield owes an annual return, because its income is above the return threshold, but no annual report unless the Commission asks for one. Same size, same work, same beneficiaries — different duties, entirely because of a decision taken at the outset about legal form.
What you should have at the end
A written statement of which filings the charity owes this year, and on what basis, minuted.
Recording the basis — the income figure and the structure, not just the conclusion — is what lets the determination be checked later if the answer is ever questioned. A tool is planned: What must I file? (planned).
Common questions
Yes. Both the report threshold and the return threshold are expressly disapplied for CIOs. Income makes no difference to whether the duty exists — only to how much there is to say.
If you are below the report threshold and not a CIO, then no report has fallen due yet. Keep the accounts in a state where you could produce one, because a late request gives you only within 3 months from the DATE OF THE REQUEST.
It is tested year by year on the gross income for that financial year. Cross the line and the report is due for that year, on the ordinary deadline. Drop back below it the year after and you are back to the request-triggered position.
Not quite, and the difference is worth noticing. The return exemption applies where income "does not exceed" its figure, so a charity exactly on it is exempt. The report duty bites where income "exceeds" its figure, so a charity exactly on that one is below the line.