Donations to approved sports bodies

At first glance, handing over €50 here and €200 there to help your local sports club might feel like nothing more than community spirit. However, from 1 January 2025 these goodwill gestures could quietly be working in your financial favour with potentially thousands more flowing into community clubs while you keep more of your own income.

For many years, tax‑efficient giving was largely associated with charitable donations, until Revenue changed the landscape in 2013 by removing the ability for individuals to personally claim tax deductions for charitable contributions. Since then, approved charities have been responsible for reclaiming the tax relief directly from Revenue, shifting the benefit away from donors themselves.

Donations to approved sports bodies, however, operate under a distinct and more flexible model. Under the updated rules, both PAYE and self‑assessed taxpayers can choose how the tax relief on their qualifying donations is applied: they may either claim the relief personally through their tax return or transfer it to the sports organisation so the club can reclaim the funds from Revenue. This election offers greater control to donors, but it is a once‑off decision that is irrevocable

Is your club actually approved?

Here is where the fine print starts. Not all sports clubs automatically qualify just because they have a pitch and a committee. To receive tax‑relieved donations, the club must:

• Exist solely to promote amateur or athletic sports (recreational or competitive).
• Hold a valid Games and Sports Exemption Number from Revenue.
• Have an up‑to‑date tax clearance certificate.

Approval isn’t a one-size-fits-all. Revenue assesses sports bodies case by case, meaning even well-established clubs must meet the official standards. 

Is the project approved too?

Even if the club checks out, your donation still needs to support an approved project. These projects must be signed off by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport. They usually include things like buying or building club facilities, refurbishing clubhouses, purchasing land, investing in permanently installed equipment, improving pitches or playing surface or repaying loans taken out for the improvements.

National Governing Bodies (NGBs) also receive approval for broader, sector‑wide initiatives like funding elite athletes, promoting women’s participation in sport or supporting athletes with disabilities.

Does your donation qualify?

Not all donations fit the criteria for tax relief. For your donation to be eligible:

• It must be money only (not goods or equipment).
• It must be at least €250 in a tax year.
• You can’t get any personal benefit in return (no free membership or perks).
• It must not be repayable.
• It must be used strictly for the approved project.

Also, if the donation is conditional on the sports body buying a property from the donor or connected persons to the donor, then the donation wouldn’t qualify for relief.

Fundraising initiatives undertaken by local sports clubs (for example, lottery sales) are not approved projects, and as such, contributions made in respect of these initiatives do not qualify for tax relief.

When a company makes a qualifying donation to an approved body, it claims a deduction for the donation as if it were a trading expense or an expense of management for the accounting period in which it is paid.

Choosing how the relief works

Option A: you claim it yourself

If you choose to claim the relief yourself, you will need a formal receipt from the club which includes the project number and unique receipt number. You then add these details in your annual tax return and the tax savings achieved is dependent on your marginal tax rate. For example, if you donate €500 and your marginal tax rate is 40%, your tax savings would be €200 (€500 x 40%). The same donation of €500 and your marginal tax rate is 20%, your tax savings would be €100 (€500 x 20%).

Option B: you let the club claim the relief

If you choose to surrender the relief to the club, you will need to complete a simple certificate for the club for them to submit the claim to Revenue. This means you cannot claim anything on your annual tax return. The sports body can only claim the relief on or after 1 December in the year after the relevant year of assessment in which the donation is made. 

Your donation then gets “grossed up”, meaning the club ends up with more money. For example, if you donate €500 and your marginal tax rate is 40%, the club grosses up your donation to €833 {€500 x 100/(100-40)}. They claim back €333 from Revenue and your €500 donation becomes €833 of support for the club. For clubs, this is a powerful new fundraising tool without costing you an extra cent (as long as you’ve paid enough tax that year).

Between rising facility costs and increasing community demand, local sports clubs rely more than ever on fundraising and donations. These tax changes turn those donations into bigger, more reliable funding streams, all while giving donors a say in how the financial benefit is used. If you’re planning to donate this year, maybe to help build that new clubhouse or upgrade the pitch, it’s definitely worth looking into. And for the clubs building the next generation of athletes, every euro now stretches further.

If you have any questions in relation to the above, or if you would like to discuss this topic further, please contact a member of the Forvis Mazars private client team below: