All organisations, no matter how large or small, constituted in Northern Ireland for a charitable aim or purpose will need to register with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland.

Initially the Commission will ask 20 organisations to ‘test drive’ the new on-line registration process and seek feedback from them to address any areas of difficulty they encounter with the registration process before contacting the remaining organisations.

From this time onwards any organisation wishing to be recognised as a charity in Northern Ireland will have to register with CCNI.

Newly established organisations, and those not previously registered with HM Revenue and Customs, can come forward for registration on an ongoing basis once testing of the register is completed.

If your organisation is currently registered with HM Revenue and Customs and you have a charity number, you do not need to take any further action until you hear from the Commission.

If a newly registered charity wishes to benefit from charitable tax exemptions it must register with HMRC for tax purposes. If CCNI refuses registration then HMRC will not accept an application from that organisation.

All organisations can apply for registration with CCNI by completing the online application.

If for any reason you can not complete the application online, a paper form is available by contacting CCNI directly.