Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the benefits of exempting registered community benefit societies from (a) corporation tax and (b) business and non-domestic rates.

Community benefit societies which are not registered charities currently pay corporation tax on their profits, investment income and any capital gains. At present the government does not consider a specific exemption from corporation tax to be appropriate as there are alternative routes by which community benefit societies could access an exemption- most importantly registering as a charity if the relevant conditions are met.

The business rates system also includes a number of reliefs and exemptions for registered charities. If a community benefit society is a registered charity then it would be potentially eligible for this support. And all community benefit societies will benefit from the reduction in business rates announced at Budget 2016, which is worth almost £9bn.