There are many causes that are worthy of donating money to, many of us have preferred charities to whom we regularly make a financial contribution. But have you ever thought of setting up a charity yourself? It could be to help a local cause in Scotland that means a lot to you or to distribute donations to a number of other existing charities. It may even be to ensure that a family name lives on.

If you decide to leave money to charity, in lifetime or death, it can be an efficient part of tax planning with Capital Gains and Inheritance Tax reliefs.

At Pagan Osborne we can offer expert advice and help plan the most efficient way for you to make donations. By studying and understanding all aspects of your requirements we deliver the best solutions to the potentially complex area of charities, with our expertise covering everything from small family trusts to large corporate charities.

We also provide general advice to charities and charitable trustees. This can take the form of guidance on charity qualifications and strategy, as well as helping to set up charities in the first place. We then provide legal, administrative and accountancy support for the lifetime of the trust.

Our role can be as far reaching or as simple as you want :

• We can help charities who have need assistance with the day to day administration, payroll, etc
• We can advise and assist with property management
• Complete tax returns to claim tax rebates on income taxed at source
• Set up new charities up either in lifetime or if you would like to make provision for death and liaise with OSCR (office of the Scottish Charity regulator) to ensure that we achieve charitable status and get all the benefits that go with that
• Review existing charities to ensure that they meet the “charities test” going forward and will not fall foul of the OSCR rolling review
• Discuss the merits and act on changes to charities, mergers, name change, change of purpose etc as now allowed by OSCR
• Assist with annual accounting, trustees reports etc
• Ensure that the Trustees are meeting the requirements expected of them from OSCR