Is a gift to a member of our social club taxable?

pmcx9

I am treasurer of a small social club with a healthy balance of £5500. We have had this balance for many years and it is likely we will be moved from our premise in about a years time and the club fold. Our subscriptions basically meet our running costs and this has been the case for years.

Can I simply gift £200 to the 25 members now and worry about folding the club at the later date or is this gift taxable in the eyes of HMRC?

Thanks.

le_loup

There is no gift tax in the UK but, I suspect this is not a gift, it is just returning the members own money to them.

chrismac1

Yes, provding the members have been trading only with each other. Where this can get tricky is in the situation where the social club runs external events e.g. wedding receptions, parties for non-members which is generally trading and hence there can be tax to pay. Where none of this has been going on then all you are doing is paying back people's money to them, no tax.

pmcx9

Thanks for answers.

Its a works social club. We do have a tuck shop that sells chocolate and cans only to social members. We have had social events in the past that have been attended by non-members but not for 3 or 4 years. To be perfectly honest the surplus was probably built up from when we did have socials but as I said before we run at break even now on our subscriptions plus tuck shop takings.