VAT & Grants vs Contracts

Many charities have seen the way they receive public funding change over recent years, with grant funding increasingly being replaced by service level agreements and, more recently, formal procurement processes. If your organisation has been through that shift, your VAT position may have changed significantly, even though the services you deliver have remained exactly the same.

 

The distinction matters. A grant carries no VAT. A contract can. Getting that distinction wrong can have significant financial consequences.

 

Ask yourself three questions:

• Has funding you previously received as a grant been renamed, restructured, or moved onto a service level agreement or contract?

• Have you been asked to tender or bid for funding you have delivered for years, even where no one else is competing for it?

• Are you now going through a procurement process for funding that used to be awarded as a grant?

 

If you answered yes to any of these questions, this session is for you.

 

You will gain a practical understanding of how changes in funding arrangements can affect your VAT position, the risks to be aware of, and the questions every charity should be asking.

*Please note that Charity Leadership Scotland events are only open to CEOs, Chairs, Vice-Chairs, and senior managers of Scottish voluntary sector organisations.