Income Tax Form & Charitable donations

cepheus

I have just tried to fill out my Income tax form and it seems to want to tax me £36 on charitable donations which were £144.

Tax due on Gift Aid payments (B) £180.00 @ 20% £36.00

Unfortunately it expects you to fill in the section on charitable gifts, then it seems to define this it as gift aid which I think by definition means you are paying tax. However, I don't qualify for tax in that year.

About a year ago I informed the charity concerned not to claim tax back on my behalf, so I don't think tax is owed.

It is possible they may have reclaimed during part of part the year though.

Dazed_and_confused

If you told them "about a year ago" that would be half way through the tax year so yes you would have an adjustment to collect the tax from yourself. Have you read the guidance notes for that part of the return - do you actually need to declare the amounts paid AFTER the charity stopped claiming tax relief? i.e you may not have quite so much to pay if you should only declare the bit that was under the Gift Aid scheme

twig1_2

Just leave it off the tax return if you don't want to claim tax relief on it. I didn't realise that they would add it to your tax payable if you did not have enough tax to offset it against so got caught out last year but I suppose I can understand if the charity had claimed it back.

cepheus wrote: »

I have just tried to fill out my Income tax form and it seems to want to tax me £36 on charitable donations which were £144.

Unfortunately it expects you to fill in the section on charitable gifts, then it seems to define this it as gift aid which I think by definition means you are paying tax. However, I don't qualify for tax in that year.

About a year ago I informed the charity concerned not to claim tax back on my behalf, so I don't think tax is owed.

It is possible they may have reclaimed during part of part the year though.

cepheus

I could leave the charity section out, but that would indicate I haven't given to charity, so presumably it would be wrong to do that.

There is no chance of reclaiming anything, since I wasn't paying tax throughout that year. I remembered halfway through the year that the charity probably wouldn't know my zero tax status and was still reclaiming back tax they shouldn't be, so I told them. However, as far as I can see the tax form simply assumes you haven't bothered to tell the charity to stop claiming back at all, so the HMRC want you to pay all the £36 quid the charity would have claimed back for the whole year

I suppose the only way is to phone the charity up and ask them how much they have claimed back, but it's a lot of messing around for £15 or so. I anticipated this, and wrote the date down in my diary, but then lost it!

antonic

Strictly speaking if you didnt have any taxable income, then the charity cant claim back the Gift Aid .

System

If you made the payment under the gift aid scheme you need to pay the tax the charity has already reclaimed from HMRC. If it wasn't paid under gift aid contact HMRC and let them know what's happened and that you need to change your form.

In future if you're not liable to tax it's best not to 'gift aid' any donations. You can still give to charity but they won't reclaim the tax and you won't be left with a bill at the end of the year.

If I remember right the HMRC form only wants to know about 'gift aid' donations. If they weren't gift aided just leave them off the form. The HMRC calc is just based on the info you give - ie it doesn't link up with the charities' tax claim.

Which form are you completing Tax Return, R40, P161?


Hope that helps

cepheus

It's the standard self assessment internet version, there is no number.

https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/self-assessment/

The heading of the section is this, doesn't mention gift aid in the title, so it implies you must fill it in if giving to charity

Charitable giving

However once you go in, the only option is gift aid, there is no such thing as non-gift aid charitable giving. If you put a zero in it doesn't accept it, so I guess you pretend you haven't given to charity and leave that part of the form out completely.

However, I will have to contact the charity to make sure no gift aid was relevant in that tax year. I did cancel gift aid, about a year or more ago, most people don't remember at all if paying by DD and their tax status changes

barak

The notes SA150 say -

Charitable giving
Boxes 5 to 12 are for you to provide details of gifts to charity for which you are claiming relief.

http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/forms/view.page?record=p7X6_aiavjA&formId=3000

As twig1 says you don't need to fill in that section, although you should check with the charity whether any tax has been reclaimed before you contacted them.

System

cepheus wrote: »

However once you go in, the only option is gift aid, there is no such thing as non-gift aid charitable giving. If you put a zero in it doesn't accept it, so I guess you pretend you haven't given to charity and leave that part of the form out completely.

However, I will have to contact the charity to make sure no gift aid was relevant in that tax year. I did cancel gift aid, about a year or more ago, most people don't remember at all if paying by DD and their tax status changes

Ah I see what you mean. By non-gift aid I meant there was no 'gift aid' declaration in place with the charity. Either not completed in the first instance or, as in your case, later cancelled.

As Barak says you wouldn't include such donations in your return.