Annual return details and charity principal contact details

The principal contact is the main listed person we communicate with when we need to get in touch with your charity. The address of the principal contact is the address which will be published on a charity’s Register entry

This person can be a charity trustee, an employee, an accountant or legal adviser.

All applicants for charitable status are asked to provide OSCR with the details of the name and address of the principal contact and the principal contact will automatically be set up as a charity user when a charity is first registered.

Charity users are individuals who can use OSCR Online to update a charity's information and submit online annual returns. We also send out communications to anyone who is listed as a charity user on OSCR Online. A charity can have up to three users, and these can be managed in the 'Manage charity users' section of OSCR Online. It is common for a charity's principal contact to remain an OSCR Online user, however it is not a requirement. 

When any of the principal contact details change, this must be updated as soon as possible. This is a requirement.

Remember, we mainly communicate by email, so it is important that whoever it is has an email account which is active and checked regularly.

If you need to make changes to the contact details, you can do so where indicated on the form.

Please note that a SCIOs principal contact address must be in Scotland

There are a few questions on this page that we would like to explain further.

The Principal Office or Trustee Address must be an address at which you will be able to deal with all official notices and letters which you receive from OSCR. If you use a PO Box number, you must still provide a physical address and postcode. Where the charity does not have a principal office, you will need to supply the name and address of one of its charity trustees. This information will be shown on the Scottish Charity Register (for example ‘Charity Trustee – Mrs A Smith’).

We can use the Alternative Contact Email to get in touch with the charity if there are any problems with the principal email address.