New Regulations to bring the Charities Law fully into effect in Jersey have been lodged today.
Assistant Chief Minister, Senator Paul Routier MBE, lodged the draft regulations for approval by the States to enable the Charity Register to be introduced on 1 May 2018.
This will allow entities, including existing charities, to apply to become “registered charities” under the Charities (Jersey) Law 2014 starting from that date. The regulations also make provision with effect from 1 January 2019 to changes to the tax reliefs available and the use of the word ‘charity’ as a description.
The regulations allow some organisations that are currently entitled to the benefit of the tax reliefs, to continue to receive that benefit until the end of the 2019 tax year. Continuing entitlement to these tax reliefs in 2020 will depend upon whether or not they have successfully become a registered charity.
The draft regulations set out the financial information that must be provided to the Charity Commissioner on an application for registration.
Senator Routier said: “Following the appointment of Jersey’s first Charity Commissioner last July, the opening of the publicly accessible Charity Register is the key step in promoting public confidence in the charitable sector, helping it to develop and flourish.”
The Charity Commissioner, John Mills CBE, said, “”I welcome this final step towards bringing the Charities Law into force. The transparency enabled by the new Charity Register will not only allow people to see for themselves the main governance and financial arrangements of charities but also, for the same reason, will afford charities of all descriptions, once registered, a much greater degree of credibility as they seek to raise funds to pursue their work. A well-functioning charity sector is a key element of Jersey’s whole civic society and the new registration arrangements will be important in helping to ensure that all citizens have trust and confidence in all the valuable work it does for so many people both in the Island and elsewhere.”
