gift aid query 1 August 2016 at 9:43AM in Charities 3 replies 1.9K views

November2

Hi, recently visited an English Heritage site and notice on my receipt I've paid a voluntary gift aid donation on admission and it also mentions that I must've paid enough tax etc to qualify for them to claim on the whole amount. I vaguely remember being asked if I'd like to make a donation at time of payment but as I had children with me I wasn't really concentrating fully. The problem is although I have an Ebay business account I don't earn enough to pay tax. It mentions being able to cancel the gift aid within 30 days but doesn't say how. Any ideas, can I just leave it and forget about it or do I have to cancel?

Savvy_Sue

If there isn't a phone number on the receipt, I think your best bet would be to phone EH head office and bend someone's ear. (this 'voluntary donation' malarkey makes me quite cross!)

November2

Hi, thanks for taking time to reply. I'm not bothered about getting the donation back I'm just a bit confused as to where I stand re making the gift aid claim as I don't pay tax, I don't want to be accused of trying to fiddle it any way. I'm guessing I can just forget about it as the donation is already paid and as I won't be claiming it as an expense on my tax return I can just throw the receipt away, EH I guess will have the claim on the full amount rejected at some point. Although it says gift aid can be cancelled there is no details on how to do this on the receipt or on the EH website.

Savvy_Sue

November2 wrote: »

I don't want to be accused of trying to fiddle it any way.

It's not you fiddling, it's EH who are potentially going to claim too much Gift Aid.

November2 wrote: »

EH I guess will have the claim on the full amount rejected at some point.

I think technically at that point they can ask you to make it up. Whether they would or not, I don't know.

That's why I don't like the way they add this extra thing on and ask you to Gift Aid. How they can expect to get a correct response from everyone is beyond me.