Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 19 Nov 2002

Vol. 557 No. 4

Written Answers. - International Charities.

Róisín Shortall

Ceist:

189 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the difficulties presented to small international charities by the condition in applying for charitable status that half of the members of its executive must be resident here; the way in which small international bodies with small executives can meet the criteria; if there is an appeals process to which such bodies can make their case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22597/02]

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy)

The position is that any body of persons or trust seeking charitable tax exemption must be legally established in the State and have its centre of management and control here. In addition, the majority of its directors must be resident within the State and the organisation must have a permanent establishment within the State. The rationale underlying the requirement for a foreign charitable body to be established in the State for the purposes of tax exemption is based on the fact that what may be recognised as a charity in one country may not necessarily be regarded as a charity here in Ireland.

As regards the claim that international charities proposing to establish themselves in Ireland are faced with difficulties in meeting the particular requirement to have a majority of Irish resident directors, the Revenue Commissioners have informed me that this has not been a problem generally. The practice of the Revenue Commissioners in this regard has been one whereby, provided a body is legally established here and is conducting some charitable activities in the State, they are prepared to consider applications for charitable tax exemption, and where a majority of directors may be non-resident, they consider such applications on a case by case basis. The Revenue Commissioners have also informed me that a recent report from the Law Society's Law Reform Committee entitled "Charity Law – The case for Reform", examined,inter alia, the issue of the registration of foreign registered charities. That committee noted the Revenue requirement that a majority of directors must be resident in Ireland and did not recommend any change in this regard.

An appeal against a decision not to grant charitable tax exemption may be made to the appeal commissioners who are independent of the Revenue Commissioners.