Help Centre · Statutory Accounts · 7 min read

Charity accounts: the Charities SORP and receipts and payments

Prepare a charity's accounts in charity format: a Statement of Financial Activities by fund, a trustees' annual report and an independent examiner's report under the Charities SORP, or receipts and payments accounts for a small charity that is not a company. In beta.

Tax Optimiser Updated 16 Oct 2026

A charity does not report like a trading company. Its accounts show a Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) in place of a profit and loss account, split between the charity's funds, with a trustees' annual report and, above the audit threshold or where the governing document asks, an independent examiner's report. Tax Optimiser prepares these accounts from the same trial balance it uses for the Corporation Tax return. This article explains how to turn them on and what each screen does.

Charity accounts are in beta. They are available to accountant firms on the beta programme. Ask support if you would like your firm added. Until a charity is switched on, its accounts are prepared in the ordinary company format, as before.

Which charities this covers

  • A charitable company (a company limited by guarantee that is a registered charity): accounts under the Charities SORP, which are also its Companies Act accounts. They are filed at Companies House and attached to the CT600 in the usual way.
  • A Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO): accounts under the Charities SORP, or receipts and payments accounts if it is small enough. A CIO files nothing at Companies House; the accounts go to HMRC as a PDF with the CT600. See Corporation Tax for a CIO.
  • An unincorporated charity (a charitable trust or association): the same choice as a CIO.

Which edition of the SORP applies is decided by the period's start date: SORP 2019 (FRS 102, second edition) for periods starting before 1 January 2026, and SORP 2026 for periods starting on or after that date. Tax Optimiser picks the edition and its wording for you. The period overview shows which one applies.

Not yet covered: audited charities, group accounts, and the Scottish (OSCR) receipts and payments format.

Turn charity accounts on

  1. Open Organisation settings, and on the Company Details tab set Corporation Tax company type to Charity. This also turns on the CT600E; see Corporation Tax for charities and CASCs (CT600E).
  2. Choose the Charity regulator and enter the Charity number (for example 1234567, or SC012345 for a Scottish charity). The number prints on the accounts and fills box E10 of the CT600E.
  3. Tick Charity accounts (beta) and save.

Reload the accounting period. Its menu now has Funds, Trustees' report and Accounts. Charity accounts are prepared under full FRS 102 and the Charities SORP. The SORP does not allow the Section 1A small entities regime or the FRS 105 micro-entity format, so a period on either asks you to change the Accounts Type to FRS 102 on the period overview.

Enter the trial balance

The figures come from the period's trial balance, entered, imported or synced from Xero or QuickBooks in the usual way. Use ordinary nominals: donations, grants, Gift Aid and legacies can sit on any income line, because you choose where each line appears on the SOFA on the Funds screen. See Getting the figures in: the trial balance.

The trial balance holds the charity's total figures. The split between funds is entered on the Funds screen, so the accounts always agree with the trial balance.

Funds

Open Funds. Every charity has a general (unrestricted) fund. Add any other funds the charity holds with Add a fund, choosing the type:

  • Unrestricted (general) and Unrestricted (designated): money the trustees can spend on any of the charity's purposes. A designated fund is money the trustees have set aside for a particular purpose themselves.
  • Restricted: money given for a particular purpose, such as a grant for a named project.
  • Endowment (permanent) and Endowment (expendable): capital the charity must keep, or may spend only under the terms of the gift.

Select a fund to give it a purpose and any restriction (printed in the funds note), its balance brought forward, any transfers in or out with the reason, and, under Income and expenditure belonging to this fund, how much of each trial balance line belongs to it. Whatever is not given to another fund stays in the general fund. When the previous period is in Tax Optimiser, the balances brought forward and the comparative figures come from it and are not entered again.

The table at the bottom, Where each line goes on the Statement of Financial Activities and the CT600E, sets the SOFA heading for each income and expenditure line (donations and legacies, charitable activities, other trading activities, investments, other income, raising funds, charitable activities expenditure, other expenditure) and the CT600E box it fills. Each line starts with a sensible default; change any that are wrong. The choice is kept for the charity and carries to later years.

Trustees' report and independent examination

Open Trustees' report. Each section of the trustees' annual report has a box: structure, governance and management; objectives and activities (with the public benefit statement for a charity in England and Wales); achievements and performance; financial review and reserves policy; plans for the future; volunteers; and the trustees' responsibilities. Blank sections take standard wording for the charity's type and SORP edition, which you can overwrite. For a charitable company the trustees' report is also its directors' report.

Under Independent examination choose the Scrutiny. For an independent examination, enter the examiner's name, qualification, address and report date, and the examiner's report is printed in place of the accountants' report. The accounting policies and notes for the charity (basis of preparation, funds, income, expenditure, trustees' remuneration and related parties) are edited at the foot of the same page.

The accounts

Open Accounts to view or download them. Accounts on the accruals basis contain:

  • the reference and administrative details and the trustees' annual report;
  • the independent examiner's report, if there is one;
  • the Statement of Financial Activities, with unrestricted, restricted and endowment columns, a total, and the previous year's total;
  • the balance sheet, ending in the funds of the charity;
  • the analysis of movements in funds, with each fund's purpose and the reasons for any transfers;
  • the accounting policies and notes for the charity.

Receipts and payments accounts

A charity that is not a company may prepare simpler receipts and payments accounts if its gross income is no more than £250,000, or £500,000 for financial years ending on or after 30 September 2026 (section 133 of the Charities Act 2011). On the Funds screen, set Accounts basis to Receipts and payments. The choice is made for each period. It is not offered to a charitable company, and the Funds screen warns if the period's income is over the limit.

The accounts then contain a receipts and payments account in place of the SOFA and a statement of assets and liabilities in place of the balance sheet. The receipts and payments account shows the cash funds brought and carried forward, taken from the trial balance's cash at bank and in hand. The statement lists cash funds, other monetary assets, investment assets, assets retained for the charity's own use, and liabilities. The analysis of movements in funds is shown on the same cash basis.

The trial balance must be on a cash basis. Receipts and payments accounts record money in and out, with no accruals, prepayments or depreciation. If the trial balance holds any, receipts less payments will not explain the change in cash. The accounts then show the difference in red, so you can correct the trial balance before the accounts are approved. The difference is never adjusted away.

Filing

  • A charitable company files its accounts at Companies House and with its CT600 in the usual way. The iXBRL is tagged with the charities taxonomy, so the funds and SOFA figures are tagged as charity facts.
  • A CIO or unincorporated charity sends its accounts to HMRC as a PDF with the CT600. In the File CT600 with HMRC wizard, the Attach Accounts step offers Attach the charity accounts prepared here, which attaches the accounts as they stand. You can still upload a signed PDF instead.

The CT600E income and expenditure boxes can be filled from the accounts. On the CT600E Income tab, choose Fill income and expenditure from the charity accounts, check the figures and save. A CT600E that has not yet been saved is filled from the accounts automatically. One that has been saved is never changed without you asking.

The charity's annual return and accounts to the Charity Commission or OSCR are filed by the charity on the regulator's own service. Tax Optimiser does not file them.

The short version

Charity accounts: the Charities SORP and receipts and payments — in brief

Charity accounts are prepared from the period's trial balance once the organisation's Corporation Tax company type is Charity and Charity accounts (beta) is ticked in Organisation settings.

The Funds screen holds the charity's funds and splits the trial balance between them; it also sets the SOFA heading and CT600E box for each line. The Trustees' report screen holds the trustees' annual report, the independent examination and the charity notes.

A charity that is not a company may choose receipts and payments accounts under the income limit. A charitable company files at Companies House and HMRC as usual; a CIO's accounts go to HMRC as a PDF with the CT600.