BIM47430 | Specific deductions: subscriptions: trade associations: other

Local trade associations

Any legally disallowable part of a fixed annual subscription payable to a local association as a chamber of trade is usually of negligible amount, and the absence of an HMRC arrangement should not be taken as grounds for disallowing the subscription.

Ordinary annual subscriptions by non-members (for example by a jam manufacturer to a grocers’ association) are normally admissible as sums laid out wholly for the purposes of the subscriber’s trade with members of the association.

An arrangement for the allowance of the subscriptions is not necessary in such cases, but an association may apply to adopt the official arrangement with a view to securing relief for losses.

Foreign trade associations

Fixed annual subscriptions to an association outside the UK may normally be allowed as a deduction in the absence of any evidence of inadmissibility. Production of the accounts of the association need not be requested.