The government has agreed to give VAT relief to all charities working as part of the UK Emergency Response Service

The RNLI will soon be able to invest an
extra £2.5m each year following VAT relief announcements made today. 

Chancellor George Osborne revealed that emergency
service charities in the UK will be eligible for a VAT refund from April next
year.




As a result, the RNLI will be able to invest around an extra £2.5m that they would normally have paid as VAT, back into the charity’s
lifesaving work.




An RNLI spokesperson said: “The RNLI is
extremely grateful to the government for agreeing to give VAT relief to all
charities working as part of the UK Emergency Response Service.




“This should mean that the RNLI is no
longer paying VAT to the Government of around £2.5m each year, which instead
will be invested into keeping our coastal communities safe.

“The RNLI has worked with the Charity Tax
Group, the Association of Air Ambulances and the UK Search and Rescue
Volunteers Working Group to deliver this result, which will benefit all
emergency response charities and in turn enable more lives to be saved.




“This will also mean the RNLI will now be
on the same tax footing as their emergency service colleagues, such as the
police, the fire service and the coastguard agencies.”

Related articles