CASC Status

Fyldewhite

Tour Winner
Joined
Jan 12, 2007
Messages
2,744
Location
Blackpool
www.blackpoolparkgc.co.uk
Our clubs CASC status is being challenged by HMRC. Apparently they are having a purge targeting golf clubs, citing things such as the cost of membership, total cost of golf, affordability for different community groups (those on modest incomes etc), obstacles to membership (proposers required etc) as reasons against CASC status.

There are 498 Golf clubs (Oct 2015) with this status so is anyone aware of any outcomes or clubs who have had CASC removed?
 
We voted to give ours up voluntarily. It means a greater tax liability, ie we don't receive the amount of business rates relief we did under casc status but we can control green fee/society income and don't have to make provision for all of the requirements about availability & affordability. To stay in means you can't be a proper members club IMO.

It may mean a slight rise in fees but this could be offset by an increase in green fees/society income.

No one in the club objected to our opting out.
 
We just gave up our CASC status too, now we have a huge rates increase to cope with

If this initiative was intended to make the sport more affordable to all, it will just mean we have to increase our membership fees, and other prices, so will have the opposite effect, or clubs will just close
 
We just gave up our CASC status too, now we have a huge rates increase to cope with

If this initiative was intended to make the sport more affordable to all, it will just mean we have to increase our membership fees, and other prices, so will have the opposite effect, or clubs will just close

ours works out to be approx. £70 per year each, but under CASC green fee income is capped at £100k supposedly. The alternative is committing to have a specified no of new members per year (a set%), provision for reduced fees for those that can't pay the full amount and opening the course up to the community
 
I know my club has been in battle with HMRC and many other clubs about getting tax back on club membership and they have all but won. This has been on going for several years with claim and counter claim and each time HMRC has been ruled against by whatever court they have taken their claim to. The last we heard was that a few months ago, whereby HMRC had a set date to respond, whereby if they didn't the case would be closed and they would've lost.

The net result would be the clubs associated to the case would be entitled to getting tax back, for my club this amounts to a sizeable quantity, minus the Solicitors fees.
 
We looked at it but decided against, I think it meant we had no control over memebership and would have to accept anyone who applied.
 
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