OSCR annual return: what Scottish charities submit each year

Who needs it

• Every charity registered in Scotland, whatever its size.
• Cross-border charities also registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, on a shorter return.

What you need before you start

• OSCR Online access: a principal contact plus up to three charity users, such as trustees, staff or your accountant.
• The annual accounts, Trustees' Annual Report and external scrutiny report to attach.
• For year ends on or after 30 June 2025: each trustee's full name, home address, email, phone number, date of birth and date of appointment.

How to file OSCR annual return

1. 1Prepare the accounts and Trustees' Annual Report, and get the external scrutiny report on them.
2. 2Check the accounts are ready for publication: OSCR publishes them in full on the Register without redaction.
3. 3Log in to OSCR Online and complete the return: charity and trustee details, sections A to C, the accounts submission and the declaration. You can save a draft.
4. 4Attach the accounts, Trustees' Annual Report and scrutiny report, and submit within 9 months of the year end.

What you submit

OSCR's annual reporting guidance asks every registered charity for four things each year: the online annual return, the annual accounts, a Trustees' Annual Report and an external scrutiny report, within 9 months of the financial year end.

OSCR accepts typed or digital signatures on the documents. Since early 2026 it publishes all submitted accounts on the Scottish Charity Register, with personal information left in, so check they're ready for publication before you submit.

Using OSCR Online

A charity can have a principal contact and up to three charity users, who may be trustees, staff, volunteers or advisers such as an accountant. You can save a draft return and come back to it, but the documents must be attached before you submit.

For year ends on or after 30 June 2025, the return collects each trustee's full name, home address, email, phone number, date of birth and date of appointment.

If the return is late

OSCR sends reminder emails until 10 weeks after the deadline, and the charity's Register entry shows that it's late and by how many days. After 10 weeks the charity is classed as defaulting, which OSCR treats as misconduct by the trustees.

OSCR can then direct the charity to prepare accounts, appoint someone to prepare them with the trustees personally liable for the cost, or, where a charity keeps failing to file, remove it from the Register.

Common mistakes

• Working to the Charity Commission's 10-month deadline for a cross-border charity. OSCR's 9 months still applies.
• Leaving personal information in the accounts. OSCR now publishes submitted accounts in full, without redaction.
• Missing trustee details now required for year ends on or after 30 June 2025.
• Submitting the return without the accounts, Trustees' Annual Report and scrutiny report attached.