What does your charity owe this year?

Six questions and you'll know which reporting tier your charity is in, the exact date the annual return is due, whether an audit or a review is required, and what the fee is. Three different figures decide those three things and they are not the same figure — which is where most committees come unstuck.

Free, no sign-up to see your results. Your answers stay in your browser unless you email yourself a copy. General information generated from your own answers under the Charities Act 2005 — not legal or accounting advice.

1. First, the question that decides everything Is the entity registered as a charity with Charities Services?

A registered charity files its annual return with Charities Services and files nothing with the Registrar of Incorporated Societies. If the answer is no, this is the wrong check and we'll point you at the right one.

Is it also an incorporated society?

If it is, the Incorporated Societies Act still applies to almost everything except the financial statements — including the AGM. Being a charity switches off three provisions and nothing else.

2. Your balance date The day your financial year ends

The date nominated to Charities Services — 31 March if none ever was. It drives every date below.

3. Operating payments — the cash figure

Money that actually left the bank on running the charity. It excludes buying assets and repaying loans. Plain whole dollars, no commas. A rough figure off the bank statements is fine.

This year Last year The year before that

This is what decides whether you can use Tier 4 — cash accounting and a much shorter report. The two earlier years matter because of a carry-over rule most committees have never been told about.

4. Expenses and income Total expenses this year, on an accrual basis

Only needed if you're above the Tier 4 line. Different figure from operating payments: it includes depreciation and anything incurred but not yet paid.

Total gross income this year

This decides the annual return fee, and nothing else.

Total operating expenditure — last year Total operating expenditure — the year before

Including any entity your charity controls. This is the one that decides whether an audit or a review is required — a third figure again, and measured on the two years before this one.

5. Two last things Does the charity have public accountability?

Listed on a public market, or providing financial services to the public — a bank, a credit union, an insurer. Almost no charity does. If you're not sure, it's almost certainly no.

Does the charity control any other entity?

A subsidiary, a trust it appoints the trustees of, a related body it directs. If it does, that entity's figures count with yours on two of the three tests.

What your charity owes

Worked out from your answers alone, against the Charities Act 2005 and the reporting standards issued by the External Reporting Board. If a figure you gave was a guess, the answer moves — the thresholds are hard edges.

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We'll send your tier, your dates and the reasoning to your inbox — handy for forwarding to the rest of the board. No spam.