Local charity 'never done' Gift Aid?

buel10

Hello all,
Last year I helped arrange an event for my local charity which raised nearly £3,000. I am planning on doing so again next year and have a guest lined up. In order to pay for his flights to come to the UK, there is a friend of mine who has offered to pay for half the cost of the flights (flights cost £3000 approx so he is offering around £1,500). He has stipulated that he would like to do it so that the charity can claim gift aid on his contribution. However, I have contacted the lead person for said charity about this and she told me that they have 'never done Gift Aid before but it sounds wonderful'. She also added that because they haven't 'set it up', it might not be do-able to do it for my friend's contribution.

Please can I ask:
1. Can they backdate any Gift Aid on past contributions?
2. Is there a need to 'set it up', as such?

Thank you, all.

Savvy_Sue

Gosh, a charity which hasn't yet done Gift Aid - I hope most of their cash comes from sources other than individuals!

What HMRC says.

I think it should be fairly straightforward and no, there's no need to set it up. What they MUST do is get the donor to sign a Gift Aid form (and there are templates in the guidance I linked to), and then they can reclaim for the previous four years.

They may find it's worth asking any other major individual donors from the last 3-4 years if they would be willing to make a Gift Aid declaration. The Gift Aid declaration needs to say that the donor is happy for Gift Aid to be claimed on any gifts made in the previous four years: as I recall our form at work gives three options: this gift only; this gift and any future gifts; this gift, any future gift, and any gift I've made in the previous four years.

00ec25

as mentioned above, HMRC impose a 4 year time limit for claiming...

"You need to claim for a donation within 4 years of the end of the financial period you received it in. This is:

• the tax year (6 April to 5 April) if you!!!8217;re a trust
• your accounting period if your charity is a community amateur sports club (CASC), a Charity Incorporated Organisation (CIO) or a limited company"

buel10 wrote: »

Please can I ask:
1. Can they backdate any Gift Aid on past contributions?
2. Is there a need to 'set it up', as such?

1. Yes, provided you have a signed gift aid form from the donor for each tax year you wish to claim for (subject to above limit)
2. the "set up" comprises the charity filling out the application form and sending it off. If it is a genuine charity then there is no more to it than making the application. The fact the charity has overlooked this to date is a very poor reflection on the diligence of its trustees

Robin9

Is the "charity" registered with the Inland Revenue - it will have a number like X12345 ?

Is the "charity" registered with the Charity Commission - it will have a number like 1234567 ? (I'm just doing my 2017 Report to them and that asks questions on Gift Aid)

dancing_star

paying £3k for flights to get someone to a fundraiser that makes £3k?


Hmm.

glentoran99

£3000 flights? You flying someone across the world in business class for "Charity",


Nice work if you can get it