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Contemplative religious communities

This article looks at the status of particular types of charitable bodies and must be considered in conjunction with the commentary on charitable purposes, above.

As regards the income of contemplative religious communities or of their members, which is in fact treated by the community as belonging to the common fund, the precise legal position of the title to such income is often difficult to ascertain. From 1 April 2010, relief is given by statute¹.

This relief ensures that in the case of the Contemplative Orders and other Orders which are not in law capable of being regarded as charities, a proportion of the aggregate income not exceeding (for each monk or nun) the amount applied for the maintenance of that individual is regarded as his or her income for the purposes of relief from tax.

The relevant amount is linked, as a matter of convenience, to the basic personal allowance (see E1.910). Any excess of such specified amounts over the total of a community's income may be set against gains of the same