Contributing Third Parties

When a Landfill Operator (LO) makes a contribution to an Environmental Body (EB), it can only claim tax relief on 90% of the contribution it makes and the LO is left with a 10% funding shortfall. HMRC expect that LOs will absorb this cost, or a portion of it, themselves. Sometimes LOs will require you to find a separate third party - a Contributing Third Party (CTP) to make the 10% payment or a portion of it.

A CTP must:

  • be a person or organisation separate to the LO and the EB who receives the contribution;
  • not use LCF monies as the CTP payment;
  • have the intention of making the payment to the LO to secure the contribution to the EB;
  • make the payment directly to the LO or follow our guidance for intermediaries; and
  • not gain a unique benefit from any expenditure of the EB.

 

CTP payments should always go direct from the third party to the LO unless there are exceptional circumstances. This is mainly when the EB is fundraising multiple small amounts and direct payments would not be possible. If your EB is acting as an intermediary please contact ENTRUST before any money is raised. Any money raised this way must be kept separate as it is not the EB's own funds and must be clearly identifiable. If you are fundraising to find the CTP payment you should also read the FAQ on the right hand side entitled 'Can an Environmental Body fundraise to find the CTP payment' as there are specific requirements for how money is raised if it is intended for a CTP payment.

To determine whether a potential CTP payment meets ENTRUST's guidance you can consult sections 3 and 6 of our Guidance Manual or you can use our decision tree document, our CTP Guidance note and CTP examples document, these can be accessed through the related documents section at the bottom right hand side of this page. You should also read all of the FAQs relating to CTPs which can be found on the right hand side of this page. Please contact us if you have any further questions.

Projects

FAQs

Q. Will our project need a Contributing Third Party payment?

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This is the decision of the Landfill Operator (LO) who has agreed to fund your project. Some LOs do not require a Contributing Third Party (CTP) payment. The LO is able to claim tax credit for 90 per cent of the funding it contributes to the Landfill Communities Fund so a CTP payment of 10 per cent makes the LO’s contribution ‘cost neutral’. LOs may absorb some or all of the 10 per cent themselves.

Q. How much should a Contributing Third Party (CTP) provide?

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Landfill Operators (LOs) can claim a tax credit for 90 per cent of each contribution they make to an Environmental Body (EB) leaving the LO with a 10 per cent shortfall which can be recovered by requesting a Contributing Third Party (CTP) donation. HMRC expects LOs to absorb some or all of this shortfall themselves so the amount required from a Contributing Third Party (CTP) should be 10 per cent or less than any contribution made.

Q. Can an Environmental Body fundraise to find the Contributing Third Party payment?

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An Environmental Body (EB) is allowed to fundraise the Contributing Third Party (CTP) payment provided that it is made clear to each person at the time they make their contribution that the money will be paid to a Landfill Operator (LO) to secure Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) funding for the EB. In such cases the people making the contribution will be the CTPs. 

The EB is permitted to act as an intermediary for the CTP payment where it is not practical for each CTP to pay the LO direct. The EB should contact us to obtain approval before acting as an intermediary, and in every case must keep the CTP payments separate from their own funds as the CTP contributions do not belong to the EB. 

Where the EB has used fundraising, the EB should record the names and addresses of the individual CTPs where possible (and particularly where there are large individual payments). Where this is not possible then the name and date of the fundraising event may be given as the CTP. The EB should keep this record in its own project files which will be checked during a Compliance Inspection. Please see the Guidance Manual or contact us for more information on the requirements where the CTP payment comes from fundraising. Please note that CTP payments are not eligible for Gift Aid as they are not charitable donations.

Q. Can a sub-committee of the Environmental Body be the Contributing Third Party?

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No. The Contributing Third Party (CTP) must be an entirely separate legal entity from the Environmental Body (EB). A sub-committee of the EB is not a separate legal entity and so cannot be the CTP. 

Q. Can a trustee of the Environmental Body be the Contributing Third Party?

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An individual or corporate trustee of the Environmental Body (EB) can be the Contributing Third Party (CTP) and use their own money to make the CTP payment, provided that there is no unique benefit to that CTP from any expenditure of the EB.  Please see our Guidance Manual for more information on Unique Benefit and the rule that a CTP is regarded always as being a contributor.  

Q. Can the local council be the Contributing Third Party?

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A local council can be the Contributing Third Party provided it does not receive a unique benefit from any of the Environmental Body’s expenditure. Please see the Guidance Manual for more information on Unique Benefit.   

Q. Are there any considerations for a Contributing Third Party?

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A CTP who makes a payment to a Landfill Operator (LO) to enable funds to be released to an Environmental Body (EB) will be considered always to be a contributor for that EB.  This means that the CTP cannot receive a unique benefit from any transactions which that EB undertakes. This can affect future transactions, particularly if the CTP is also a potential supplier of goods and services to that EB as the CTP will not be able to make a profit from any future supply. Please see our Guidance Manual for more information on Contributing Third Parties and Unique Benefit. We have also created a CTP decision tree and a set of CTP examples which helps you to determine whether a potential CTP meets ENTRUST's requirements. These are available on the CTP page of our website.

Q. What is Unique Benefit?

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Landfill Operators (LOs) and Contributing Third Parties (CTPs) may not derive a unique benefit from having made their contribution to a project.  

Unique Benefit is any benefit or reward which the LO or CTP gain that is greater than the benefit which would be gained by the LO or CTP belonging to a general class of persons who may visit, use or enjoy a project, or being involved with the Environmental Body (EB).  Some examples of unique benefit would be:

  • a LO or CTP acting as a supplier and gaining an element of profit from the EB’s expenditure on that supply,
  • or the LO or CTP being granted preferential access to a project site or other amenity managed by the EB. 

Once a LO or CTP has made a contribution to a project, the LO or CTP will always be a contributor for the EB whose project it is, and so cannot receive a unique benefit from any future expenditure of that EB. 

The scope of Unique Benefit is wide and we advise that you refer to our Guidance Manual for more information on Unique Benefit.