Parties with accounting units

Parties with accounting units must also report permissible donations accepted, impermissible donations dealt with, and loans entered into by their accounting units.1  You must also report certain changes to existing loans.

Accounting unit treasurers do not report to us separately. They must give all the relevant information on benefits to the central party treasurer when requested to do so. The central party treasurer is legally responsible for reporting benefits received by the central party and by accounting units.2

Permissible benefits

You must report permissible benefits to an accounting unit each time the total of benefits accepted:

  • from the same source
  • in the same calendar year
  • that have not previously been required to be reported exceeds £2,230.

Impermissible benefits

You must report all impermissible donations dealt with and loans over £500 entered into during that quarter. You do not need to add together impermissible benefits.

Changes to loans

You must report the following changes to the details of permissible loans you have already reported to us: 

You do not need to report partial repayment of a loan.

End of year sweep

In Q1-Q3, you should not add together benefits from the same source accepted by different sections of the party. At the end of the calendar year, in your Q4 reporting, you must take an extra step to report benefits from the same source accepted by different sections of the party: the end of year sweep.6

Key steps

  • Step 1: You should complete your Q4 reports as normal, reporting benefits to the central party and accounting units which meet the reporting thresholds.
  • Step 2: You must then identify any permissible benefits that have been accepted by accounting units at any point in the year, but have not been reported because they are under the reporting threshold. 
  • Step 3: These benefits should be treated as if they have been accepted by the central party on the last day of the year (31 December).
  • Step 4: You must report these benefits in groups if they meet the central party reporting threshold which applies on that date. This will either be £11,180, or, if the central party has already accepted benefits of over £11,180 from that source during the year, it will be £2,230.

These benefits may be grouped with other unreported benefits from the same source which have been accepted by the central party. When grouping benefits, you should start with any unreported benefits to the central party and then add any unreported benefits to accounting units in the order that they were accepted.

If a group exceeds the threshold, you must report the benefits individually, giving the details of the accounting unit that accepted them, and the date that they were accepted by the accounting unit. In your Q4 reports, you must identify benefits that you are reporting as part of the end of year sweep.7

A diagram showing benefits to the central party and accounting units, with benefits that are reported normally identified
A diagram showing unreported benefits to accounting units moving to be treated as benefits to the central party at the end of the year
A diagram showing unreported donations to accounting units being grouped with unreported donations to the central party

 

 

Example: grouping central party and accounting unit benefits

In Q1, a company makes a donation of £10,000 to the central party and two donations of £1,000 to different accounting units. These donations are not reported in Q1, as they are under the relevant reporting thresholds (£11,180 for the central party, £2,230 for the accounting units).

In Q4, the donations to the accounting units are treated as if they were accepted by the central party on 31 December. The total of donations from the same source is now £12,000, which exceeds the central party reporting threshold. The party must report these donations, giving the details of which section of the party accepted them and the date in Q1 that they were accepted.

Example: grouping central party and accounting unit benefits

The central party accepts and reports a donation of over £11,180 in Q1. 

The same donor also makes three donations of £1,000 to different accounting units in Q2. These donations are not reported at this stage, because they are below the accounting unit reporting threshold. In Q4, the central party accepts an additional £2,000 donation. On its own, this donation is below the central party reporting threshold of £2,230. 

In Q4, the donations to the accounting units are treated as if they were accepted by the central party on 31 December. The first donation of £1,000 is grouped with the unreported £2,000 donation to the central party. These donations must be reported, as together the total of £3,000 exceeds the reporting threshold. The remaining two donations to accounting units are not reported, as the £2,000 total remains under the central party reporting threshold.

Last updated: 17 December 2024