Charity fundraising events and VAT: what the exemption covers, and where printed cups fit

A parish Christmas fair, a quiz night for a hospice or a carol evening on a village green can all be run to raise money. Whether the charity's takings from such an event carry VAT depends on Group 12 of Schedule 9 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994, which exempts certain fundraising events. HMRC explains the rule in a helpsheet on GOV.UK. This article sets out the conditions, the limit on how many events qualify, and how cups bought for an event, sold at it or sold afterwards fit in. It covers the VAT exemption only. Our guide to sponsor logos on event cups covers VAT on sponsorship separately.

What the law says

Group 12 has three items. Item 1 covers the supply of goods and services by a charity in connection with an event that is organised for charitable purposes by a charity or jointly by more than one charity, whose primary purpose is the raising of money, and that is promoted as being primarily for the raising of money. Items 2 and 3 apply similar tests to a qualifying body, and to an event organised jointly by a charity and a qualifying body. Note 2 to the Group says a charity includes a body corporate wholly owned by a charity if its profits are transferred or otherwise payable to a charity. The Group is marked as extending to the United Kingdom.

What HMRC's helpsheet adds

The helpsheet was last updated on 20 April 2026. It describes a fundraising event for tax purposes as an event clearly organised primarily to raise money for the benefit of the charity or qualifying body. Events that incidentally make a profit are outside the exemption, and people attending must be aware of the fundraising function. It says an event is an incident with an outcome or a result, so activities of a semi-regular or continuous nature, such as the frequent operation of a shop or bar, cannot be an event.

The helpsheet also reports an Upper Tribunal decision of January 2025. Following it, HMRC accepts that an event can have more than one primary purpose, and that the word primarily in the promotion condition can be ignored. The event must still be promoted so that people attending know it is a fundraiser, and the helpsheet says to keep examples of publicity material, tickets and similar promotional items as evidence. The helpsheet says the exemption is mandatory for an event that meets all the conditions, so there is no option to charge VAT instead.

The limit on similar events

Notes 4 and 5 to Group 12 set the limit. If more than 15 events of the same kind involving the charity are held at the same location in a financial year, items 1 to 3 do not apply to any event of that kind held there in that year. A week in which the gross takings from that kind of event at that location stay at or below 1,000 pounds is disregarded when counting. The helpsheet gives the same rule in plain terms. It adds that the 1,000 pound figure is measured before costs, so the hire of a room cannot be offset against it. It says a concert repeated on successive evenings counts as separate events, while a single event at one location over more than one day counts as one.

Who can hold an exempt event

The helpsheet says only events organised exclusively by charities, their trading subsidiaries and qualifying bodies may be exempt fundraising events. A joint event with someone else is outside the exemption. It also says an individual or independent group raising money as part of a national campaign is unlikely to have charitable status or be a qualifying body, so the exemption would not apply to such events.

What is covered, and what is not

For an exempt event the helpsheet lists admission charges, brochures that may be zero rated, other items sold by the charity such as t-shirts, and sponsorship payments directly connected with the event. It says that selling goods is not itself an event, but that where the sale takes place in the context of a qualifying fundraising event it is covered by the relief. It says normal VAT treatment applies to the goods and services the charity buys. It also says that surplus commemorative items such as adult t-shirts and mugs sold for a period after the event are standard rated.

On VAT recovery, the helpsheet says in its section on professional fundraisers that VAT incurred in connection with an exempt event will generally not be recoverable, while VAT incurred in making taxable supplies within the event may be, and that this applies if the charity or qualifying body makes all the arrangements for the event. In an earlier section it says that exempt supplies can restrict the VAT a registered charity recovers on overheads.

Where cups fit in

None of the sources read mentions cups. What follows is our reading.

Cups the charity buys or hires for the event are purchases, so the helpsheet's statement that normal VAT treatment applies to them is the relevant one. Whether that VAT can be recovered depends on the points above and on the charity's own position, which is a question for its adviser or for HMRC.

A printed cup sold during the event looks to us like one of the other items sold in connection with it, in the same position as the t-shirts the helpsheet names. A printed cup left over and sold in the weeks after looks closer to the mugs the helpsheet says are standard rated. The helpsheet does not name cups, so a charity relying on either reading should confirm it.

The promotion condition is a place where a cup can help. The helpsheet says publicity material, tickets and similar promotional items should clearly refer to fundraising. A cup given out at the event with the fundraising purpose printed on it is, in our reading, one more item that shows the event was promoted as a fundraiser, and a sample kept with the records would support that.

On the product side, the promotional cups page describes reusable cups printed in one colour or as a full colour wrap. The reusable event cups page lists printed pint and half pint cups described as BPA-free and dishwasher safe. For an event where the charity would rather not hold stock, the cup hire page says collection and washing support is available after the event. A quote can be asked for with the date and the numbers expected.

What this article does not cover

It does not cover Gift Aid, whether a charity's governing document lets it run a given event itself or only through a trading company, or licences for alcohol or street trading at the event. Our guide to the temporary event notice covers one of those licences. The helpsheet says that an event held by a charity that meets the criteria for the VAT exemption automatically qualifies for HMRC's extra-statutory concession ESC C4 on income tax and corporation tax, as long as the profits are applied charitably, and this article does not go further than that.

Where this stands

This was checked on 26 October 2026. Schedule 9 is shown as up to date with changes known to be in force on or before 25 October 2026, and the helpsheet was last updated on 20 April 2026. Neither source read mentions cups.