Reporting to OSCR – know your date, don’t be late!
Every year, every charity registered in Scotland has to provide annual information by:
- Completing an online Annual Return
- Uploading or sending us a statement of accounts, a Trustees’ annual report and an external scrutiny report
This is a legal requirement.
Each charity has a ‘year end’ date - this is the date that the charity’s financial year runs to. After this year end date, charity trustees have up to 9 months to provide annual information using the methods stated above.
Your charity’s OSCR online account contains the date that you need to do this by. For example, if a charity’s year end date was 31 March 2016, the deadline would be 31 December 2016.
The closer you leave it to the 9 month date the more likely you are to be late!
We use the annual information to update each charity’s entry on the Scottish Charity Register. When annual information is not submitted the charity’s entry will show this with a red line. Anyone, such as funders or members of the public, will be able to see that the annual information has not been submitted.
This is risky for the charity’s reputation, and we will consider action against the charity trustees if annual information is not submitted.
Remember:
- There is guidance on completing an OSCR Annual Return available online to help you complete one correctly.
- Charities should be aware of what they need to submit and when.
- Receipts and Payments Accounting templates and guidance can be found on our website.
- The OSCR Annual Return should be completed online. Our online services are available 24/7 and our system makes sure that only correct and complete information is submitted.
- Charity information should always be kept up-to-date - if something changes, please login and update your account as soon as you can.
- All charity trustees should have access to the online database.
- It is the responsibility of all charity trustees to ensure they comply with the law.
- If a trustee that usually completes the OSCR Annual Return is leaving the charity, please make sure the principal contact details are correct and pass on the online login details over to whoever will submit them in the future.
For further advice or help, please contact a Third Sector Interface (TSI). You can find your local TSI here.