Paying tax to CHARITY instead of the GOVT

US_Citizen

I am about to file my tax return and I was wondering if the amount I owe in taxes can be paid to charity instead of the British government?

If you ask why? because I believe it's better to give the money to charities than to the government that would use this money to bail-out banks.

Is this possible to do so in the UK? Or do I have to pay the money I owe in taxes only to the British government?

Thanks!

fengirl_2

No, you have to pay your tax to the government -the money is also used for education, health care, police, roads, etc, not just the banks.
You can get higher rate tax relief on Gift Aided donations if you are a 40% taxpayer.

tigtag02

US_Citizen wrote: »

I am about to file my tax return and I was wondering if the amount I owe in taxes can be paid to charity instead of the British government?

If you ask why? because I believe it's better to give the money to charities than to the government that would use this money to bail-out banks.

Is this possible to do so in the UK? Or do I have to pay the money I owe in taxes only to the British government?

Thanks!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

US_Citizen

fengirl wrote: »

No, you have to pay your tax to the government -the money is also used for education, health care, police, roads, etc, not just the banks.
You can get higher rate tax relief on Gift Aided donations if you are a 40% taxpayer.

Alright then, thanks for your help!

Regarding roads, education etc I personally would be more than happy to donate to these purposes but I believe charities like Cancer Research etc are much more valuable but it can be open to debate, I'm definitely not for dodging tax but simply for putting the money in the right place.

US_Citizen

tigtag02 wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Hehe... :D:D

John_Pierpoint

Can it be done in the USA?
I remember some high profile people trying to avoid paying for the Vietnam war; but I don't think they were entirely successful.

Here in the UK you can pledge your after tax income to a charity and the charity claims back the 20% standard rate tax from the government.

If you are a higher rate taxpayer on the 40% (or 50%) you personally can claim back the 20 or 30 % on top of the 20% claimed by the charity. People of normal working age get a zero rate band of 1 - 6475 then the next 37,400 is taxed at 20% after that the tax rises to 40%.
Just when you were thinking that this tax system is relatively simple; please be aware there is a parallel weekly tax for workers called National Insurance.

http://listentotaxman.com/
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/PreBudgetReport2009/DG_183037

Final point to note is that the UK tax year runs from 6th to 5th April the following year.

US_Citizen

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Can it be done in the USA?
I remember some high profile people trying to avoid paying for the Vietnam war; but I don't think they were entirely successful.

Yes, you can pay your tax directly to a charity in the USA, it does work like this nowadays, but the charity must be approved by the IRS, meaning it has to be a well recognized charity.

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Here in the UK you can pledge your after tax income to a charity and the charity claims back the 20% standard rate tax from the government.

I got it now, so that's what I do, I had to pay a few hundred of £ of tax for last year and I would make donations this year and the gift aid amount can be up to the amount of tax I paid last year, it's not bad after all.

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

If you are a higher rate taxpayer on the 40% (or 50%) you personally can claim back the 20 or 30 % on top of the 20% claimed by the charity. People of normal working age get a zero rate band of 1 - 6475 then the next 37,400 is taxed at 20% after that the tax rises to 40%.
Just when you were thinking that this tax system is relatively simple; please be aware there is a parallel weekly tax for workers called National Insurance.

http://listentotaxman.com/
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/PreBudgetReport2009/DG_183037

Final point to note is that the UK tax year runs from 6th to 5th April the following year.

Thanks for your help!

Cook_County

The OP is a little confused. In the US you can donate refunds to the IRS, but you can do also that here too if you really want.

The OP would still owe US tax as a US citizen and would also need to file Form 3520 to report gifts to foreign trusts if the UK charity is constituted as a trust.

US_Citizen

Cook_County wrote: »

The OP is a little confused. In the US you can donate refunds to the IRS, but you can do also that here too if you really want.

The OP would still owe US tax as a US citizen and would also need to file Form 3520 to report gifts to foreign trusts if the UK charity is constituted as a trust.

Sorry if I made any mistake.