What is Gift Aid Awareness Day?
Charity Finance Group (CFG) started Gift Aid Awareness Day in 2018 "to encourage donors to ‘tick the box’ and explain why this tax relief is so vital to charities." "Gift Aid is worth around £1.3bn to the UK charity sector each year", but
"every year, almost £600m goes unclaimed".
Gift Aid Awareness Day aims to encourage "every eligible donor to #TickTheBox" and support "charities so they don’t miss out on a single potential claim." (Quotes from CFG).
What is Gift Aid?
Donations by individuals to charity or to community amateur sports clubs (CASCs) are tax free.
Gift Aid is one form of tax relief which increases donations to charities in the UK, at no extra cost to the donor. The charity or CASC can claim an extra 25p for every £1 donated by UK taxpayers.
Are my donations eligible for Gift Aid?
Your donations will qualify as long as they’re not more than 4 times what you have paid in income tax or capital gains tax in that tax year (6 April to 5 April).
What do I need to do?
You need to make a Gift Aid declaration for the charity to claim. You usually do this by filling in a form with some basic personal details and #tickthebox to confirm your donations are eligible.
You must complete a separate declaration for each charity you make donations to. Contact the charity directly and ask for a form.
You can include all donations from the last 4 years. Tell the charity about any tax years where you did not pay enough tax.
If your circumstances change and you no longer pay enough tax, it’s important to tell all the charities you support. If you don’t tell them and they continue claiming Gift Aid, you’ll need to pay any difference back to HMRC.
Higher rate taxpayers
Higher rate tax payers are entitled to claim the difference between the top rate of tax they pay and the basic rate on the total value of the donation. Individuals can claim the additional tax relief through
their self-assessment tax return;
or by asking HMRC to amend their tax code.
For example:
You donate £100 to charity - they claim Gift Aid to make your donation £125. You pay 40% tax so you can personally claim back £25.00 (£125 x 20%).
Can Gift Aid be claimed on Payroll Giving?
Donations made to charity through payroll giving aren’t eligible for Gift Aid because they’re taken from your wages before tax.
