If you run a sports club in the UK that is open to the community, has affordable membership, and reinvests its surpluses in sport, you may be missing out on a significant package of tax reliefs by not registering as a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC). The CASC scheme is administered by HMRC, not the Charity Commission, and sits alongside charity status as a route to favourable tax treatment for amateur sport. The rules tightened in 2015 and many clubs still operate under outdated assumptions about what they need to do.
What CASC status actually delivers
A registered CASC enjoys several specific tax reliefs. Income from members is not taxable as trading income. Property income up to GBP 30,000 per year is exempt from corporation tax. Trading income up to GBP 50,000 per year (from non-members) is exempt. Gift Aid applies on donations from individuals, lifting GBP 100 to GBP 125 for the club. Local authorities must give mandatory 80% business rates relief on premises wholly or mainly used by a CASC.
Capital gains tax disposals are exempt where proceeds are used for qualifying purposes, and inheritance tax does not apply to gifts and bequests to CASCs. For a typical community football, cricket, or rugby club running a clubhouse, the package can be worth tens of thousands of pounds a year compared with treating the club as an ordinary unincorporated association.
The qualifying conditions
CASC status requires the club to be open to the whole community, organised on an amateur basis, have a main purpose of providing facilities for, and promoting participation in, one or more eligible sports, and meet specific financial and membership tests. The eligibility list of sports follows the Sport England recognised sports list and is regularly updated.
The two most important quantitative rules are the income test and the membership cost condition. The income test caps trading and property income from non-members at GBP 100,000 in total across both categories, with the GBP 30,000 and GBP 50,000 sub-limits driving when corporation tax exemption applies. The membership cost condition requires that the costs associated with being a member of the club (including playing fees and other related costs) do not exceed GBP 1,612 per year for an adult member. Where annual membership exceeds GBP 612, the club must provide reasonable means for someone on a modest income to become a member.
What stops a club qualifying
The most common disqualifiers are paying players above the permitted limits, having profit-distributing members or shareholders, holding excessive non-sporting assets such as bars and function venues, and failing the open-to-all test through restrictive practices. HMRC will look at how a club actually operates, not just its constitution.
Player payments are capped at GBP 10,000 per year per club for all players combined. Subsistence and travel reimbursements at HMRC-approved rates do not count, and genuine volunteers can be paid for non-playing roles such as groundskeepers and coaches, but the moment payments to players exceed the cap, CASC status is at risk for the whole club.
CASC versus charity
A sports club with a strongly community-facing mission may qualify as a registered charity rather than a CASC. Charities get VAT zero-rating on some supplies that CASCs do not, but charity registration requires meeting the public benefit test under the Charities Act 2011 and accepting Charity Commission oversight. CASCs are simpler to run and are designed specifically for sport.
You cannot be both. A club that switches from CASC to charity status (or vice versa) needs careful planning because the rules on accumulated reserves and asset transfers are not symmetrical. We have seen rushed transitions create avoidable capital gains tax events.
Compliance once you are in
CASCs file annual claims for Gift Aid and submit annual information to HMRC's CASC unit. Trading subsidiaries are sometimes used to ring-fence taxable activities such as bar sales above the trading limit, with profits donated up to the CASC under corporate Gift Aid. This is a common structure but requires careful management because dividends from a subsidiary do not qualify.
How PushDigits supports CASCs
Our tax planning team advises sports clubs across London and the South East on CASC registration, transitions to and from charity status, and the use of trading subsidiaries to handle catering and venue hire income. Our annual accounts team prepares CASC accounts that satisfy HMRC and provide the information members and grant-makers expect.
If your club is unregistered, or you think you are at risk of breaching the income or player payment limits, book a CASC review or visit our contact page for a no-obligation assessment.