# Bates Wells and Braithwaite on VAT and The London Marathon

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/02/15/bates-wells-and-braithwaite-vat-and-london-marathon/
- Published: 2005-02-15T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Charity law specialists Bates Wells and Braithwaite have issued their advice on 
current concerns about charities losing out on VAT due to Customs & Excise from 
money raised in the London Marathon.
The advice appears in the firm of solicitors’
Charity & Social Enterprise Department’s Email Update.

This sheds light on the article in today’s edition of The Times on page 2 headed“
Tax grab on cash from marathon”. The article states that Customs & Excise will be“
grabbing” £4.5 million in VAT from money raised by charities whose supporters take
part in the London Marathon using places secured in the event by the charities under
the Marathon’s Gold Bond Scheme.

It suggests that that VAT will be levied on the pledged amounts raised by all runners
if charities refuse to allow any runner to take part in future marathons if they
fail to meet their pledge for the marathon they run that year.

## Advertisement

 [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)

This is not the case. Customs & Excise policy team have assured Bates Wells and 
Braithwaite that The Times’ article is not correct. The article apparently arose
from a rogue ruling to a charity by one of their officers in the field which has
now been rescinded. The policy remains as published in the Charities VAT notice.

In other words, if a charity asks a runner to pledge to raise a sum of money, and
the runner can still take part in the marathon if they fail to meet the pledge, 
there is no VAT charge. A charity blacklisting a runner from entering future marathons
using a charity provided place would not taint this.

Bates Wells and Braithwaite should know: the firm helped Customs & Excise to write
the Charities VAT notice. This explains that no VAT is charged on money raised by
a runner, if a charity asks the runner to pledge to raise a sum of money, but allows
the runner to take part in the event whether or not they meet the pledge.

 * **[Charities warned of new Gift Aid scam to empty their bank accounts](https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/02/24/charities-warned-new-gift-aid-scam-empty-their-bank-accounts/)**(
   24 February 2005)
 * **[Inland Revenue speaker at Fisk Brett Gift Aid seminars](https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/03/01/inland-revenue-speaker-fisk-brett-gift-aid-seminars/)**(
   1 March 2005)
 * **[Charity Commission issues revised SORP for charity accounts and reports](https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/03/04/charity-commission-issues-revised-sorp-charity-accounts-and-reports/)**(
   4 March 2005)