Vat Exempt On Advertising Sales If For Charity?

[McLean2602]

Hi, if a company was selling advertising space on a website in order to raise funds for a registered charity, would the proceeds be exempt from having to be VAT registered? Let me explain exactly the situation. We are setting up a website where people can purchase advertising space on the pages. We plan to keep 10% or 20% (final figure has not been decided yet and will depend on the right answer to this question, I suppose) for ourselves as income. The rest will be given to charity. We are selling the space and telling people that the money raised will be donated to a registered charity but that we take 10 or 20% to help with the upkeep of the site. What are the VAT implications of this sort of set up? Would it be better to ask people to make a donation of a recommended amount and offer the space as a thank you gift?

[Zacs-Master]

Is the company you are using to do this VAT registered?

[boxtops]

I'd go straight to HMRC if I were you, and get it straight from the horse's mouth http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/