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Charities Regulatory Authority update

The Charities Regulatory Authority (CRA) has now sent out letters to ALL charities registered for tax exemption with the Revenue Commissioners before 16th October 2015 with details of how to create an account and update charity details on the CRA website.


If you haven’t received a letter please submit a query via the CRA website giving your charity’s name, CHY number, registered charity number (obtainable via the public Register of Charities) and current address and they will contact you with further details, so you can create an account and update charity details on the CRA website.

The Charities Act 2009 made provision for the establishment of the Charities Regulatory Authority which is now responsible for the regulation of all organisation’s operating as charities in Ireland (the Office was established on 14th October 2014).

The CRA was established to increase trust and public confidence in charitable organisations and also to increase transparency and accountability in the sector.

As part of its functions, the Regulator will be responsible for maintaining a register of all charitable organisations operating in Ireland. The information maintained on this register will be publicly available online.

The CRA is now writing to all registered charities informing them of their obligation to register with the Authority.

Registering with the CRA

  • Charities in receipt of charitable tax exemption (a CHY number) from the Revenue Commissioners will be automatically registered with the Regulator once it is established.
  • All other charitable organisations must register within six months of the establishment of the Regulator. The deadline for registration is 15th April 2015.
  • Under the new legislation, all charities will be required to state that they are registered with the Regulator on their public literature. This would include letters, reports, publications etc.

If I have a CHY number do I have to register?

Yes, even associations who have a CHY number will have to register and create an account with the Charities Regulatory Authority.

You will receive a letter over the next two months giving directions on how to register; if you need any assistance once you receive your letter you can contact ICSH Compliance Development Officer, Kevin Ryan at 01 661 8334 or kevin@icsh.ie.

The deadline for account registration is April 15th 2015.

Who is a Trustee?

“Charity trustees” are defined in the Act and are those persons who have a day to day control of a charitable organisation. This means that the Directors (under company law) of a charity that is a company limited by guarantee will be considered to be the trustees of the charity (there may be other trustees in addition to these). It is important that members of a charitable organisation are clear as to whether or not they are considered to be a trustee as a result of the Act.

The Annual Activity Report

Under section 52 of the Charities Act, all registered charities will be required to send in an annual activity report. The report will be due not later than ten months after the end of the financial year to which it relates.

On registration, every registered charity will be issued with an Annual Return Date so that they know when they need to file their reports (date will be calculated by adding ten months to the end of financial year date supplied by the charity). 

It is expected that the annual activity report will require information on:

  • Charity Name and CHY number
  • Country of Establishment
  • Whether the charity operates in Northern Ireland and any other countries of operation
  • Addresses
  • Parent and subsidiary organisations
  • Charitable purpose and objects
  • Activities (from list and short description)
  • Beneficiary groups (from list)
  • Average number of employees and volunteers
  • Sign-up to relevant codes or principles
  • Bank accounts
  • End of financial year date
  • Gross income in last financial year
  • Main sources of income (from list)
  • Expenditures in last financial year
  • Professional advisors
  • Future fundraising plans
  • Professional fundraising agents
  • Trustees names and home addresses
  • Key administrative personnel
  • Risk procedures where charity works with vulnerable people
  • Most recent set of accounts
  • Governing document or constitution
  • Most recent annual report