Rate Relief for Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs)

From April 2004, registered community amateur sports clubs can receive 80% mandatory rate relief from Business Rates. To qualify for relief as a CASC, a sports club must

• be open to the whole community
• be run as an amateur club
• be a non-profit making organisation
• aim to provide facilities and encourage people to take part in sport
• be registered with the Inland Revenue as a CASC

If you are a sports club which has not yet registered as a CASC, and would be interested in doing so, please contact the Inland Revenue Sports Club Unit - phone 0131 777 4147.

Sports Clubs not registered as Community Amateur Sports Clubs

The Council may grant discretionary rate relief in respect of other sporting clubs.

In addition to the general conditions that should be satisfied for discretionary relief, the following extra conditions apply to sports clubs

• more than 50% of the membership should be active playing members
• where there are bar facilities, relief will not normally exceed 50%

Relief will not normally be granted where

• an admission fee is charged to the public, or
• where a club is a professional or semi-professional organisation 

Sympathetic consideration will be given if a club is involved in minority sports, or if the club is affiliated to local or national organisations and where participation in events publicises and promotes the City of Wolverhampton.

Unoccupied properties

An empty property that is held by a charity or community amateur sports club and appears likely to be next used for charitable purposes or the purposes of the club, will be exempt from unoccupied rates.

 

If you require further information about rate relief for sports clubs, please contact Local Taxes, or make a claim using the online form.

The authority is under a duty to protect public funds and, to this end may use the information held or provided by you for the prevention and detection of fraud. It may also share this information with other bodies for these purposes and also for the administration and collection of taxes and charges and for performing other statutory enforcement duties.

Below are leaflets the Local Taxes Division has produced on the relief for charitable and similar organisations.