Charitable Donation Scheme

How to become an approved body?

If you are a charity and wish to become an approved body, you must:

• hold charitable tax exemption for a period of at least two years
• and
• apply for Authorisation through Revenue Online Service (ROS).

Where eligible charities granted charitable tax exemption are amalgamated or reorganised, that exemption can continue to apply if the body or bodies:

• held Revenue authorisation
• and
• had met all relevant conditions prior to restructuring for a period of at least two years.

You must submit an application through ROS by the following steps:

• Sign into ROS.
• Go to the 'Other Services' section in the 'My Service' tab.
• Select 'Charities and Sports Bodies eApplications'.

You must include the following with the application:

• your latest financial accounts, including a breakdown of income and expenditure
• and
• the latest annual report, or details of recent activities carried out by the charity.

Your latest financial accounts should be signed by two trustees if the annual income is less than €250,000.

Your latest financial accounts should be audited and signed by the auditor if the annual income is greater than €250,000.

Authorisation to operate the Charitable Donation Scheme will be valid for a period of up to five years. You can apply to renew your authorisation through ROS.

For the purposes of the Charitable Donation Scheme, the following are automatically approved bodies:

• primary, second and third level institutions which have programmes approved by the Minister for Education and Skills
• institutions that provide courses which are certified by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI)
• institutes that are approved for education in the arts by the Minister for Finance
• organisations that promote human rights as detailed under Section 209 Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.

An automatically approved body wishing to operate the Charitable Donation Scheme (CDS) should complete a CDS Tax Registration Form. This form should be submitted to the Charities and Sports Exemptions Unit through MyEnquiries on ROS.

You do not need to complete a CDS Tax Registration form if you are a school with:

• a roll number
• and
• charitable tax exemption.

Your school is automatically registered and can submit claims under the Charitable Donation Scheme.

Next: What is a qualifying donation?