Using donations to charity to increase tax free allowance

ClickyChick

I pay higher rate tax with no tax free allowance, the only way I can do my job is for my husband not to work, and it is frustrating that, as a family we have no tax free allowance at all. I tend to advise children that there's no point writing hard, you could have the same family take home at the end if the month without trying hard at school but marrying someone with a less stressful job so you both work for lower salaries but have 2 lots of tax free allowance.

The children both go to scouts and brownies and I know that their subs can count as gift aid, waiting for confirmation that the respective units are registered for gift aid. I also sponsor a child in the 3rd world and have just been informed by the charity that, due to an administrative error, they don't have me down for gift aid since 2014.

There is nowhere on the self assessment form to enter charitable donations that don't gift aid
I don't want the gift aid, whatever the charity can get, I'm fine with that. However if the charity hasn't taken the gift aid, can i declare I paid this money, and have that amount "marked" as part of my tax free allowance for the overall calculation?

le_loup

Well done.
It is better to give than receive so the tax you pay is also helping others.
As for telling your children not to work hard, hardly seems responsible. Paying less tax by earning less seems to be just a little unhinged.
Just my opinion.

somethingcorporate

Yep, totally mad. Whilst the marginal rate has quirks that make it unattractive 40% of £1 is better than 100% of £0s.


I have family who are self-employed but do their absolute best to stay under the tax threshold. Totally bonkers!

Sibbers123

Subs to scouts and brownies will not qualify for gift aid as you are receiving something in return (well your children are).

To lose all your personal allowance, you must be earning over £123,000. So your take home would be in the region of £70,000 - average UK salary is around £28,000 - take home pay of around £22,500 - £22,500 x 2 = £45,000 - therefore you are much better off than the 'average' family, even with only one of you working.

If you want to claw back some of your personal allowance, then think about making personal pension contributions.

ClickyChick

*sigh*
Thought I'd get some advice without being trolled or given wrong advice. I've worked hard for my money-90 to 120 hours a week for the last 3 decades and I don't see that my standard of living is any different from people who can work 50 hours a week and not be knackered at the weekends and have 2 episodes of mental breakdown purely from exhaustion in their past when I didn't have a husband or family to support me.

The wrong advice is that subs are not gift aided, please Google before you judge or give wrong advice, gov . UK : charities-detailed-guidance-notes/chapter-3-gift-aid#chapter-337-membership-subscriptions
"3.37.2 Most membership subscriptions are not gifts, they’re made to gain access to the facilities and services provided by the charity. However, membership subscriptions paid to charities that secure voting rights and the right to attend a charity’s AGM are gifts provided they meet the conditions in the next paragraph. These payments will, of course, still have to satisfy the benefit rules referred to above"

You used to be able to do a covenant before they allowed gift aid, so this is something that has been around a long time.

fundraising. scouts. org. uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=f7bb893d-70cc-4acc-8bbd-75b56d00282

girlguiding. org. uk /making-guiding-happen/running-your-unit/finance-insurance-and-property/subscriptions/gift-aid-on-subs

(or maybe you just need to grow up a bit to empathise what it's like to be caught in this trap? I certainly am not pushing my children in the way my mother did, there is no reward for it- my 10 GCSEs, AS, 4 A-levels that did not include General studies looked fantastic on my schools stats but didn't give me a life where I could retire at 65. I worked too hard and moved too often to buy a house before the prices went crazy, I have no debts but I also don't have savings to speak of as they are all sunk into clearing the mortgage as fast as I can. My opinion is my own. Feel free to troll away. I won't bother coming back to see how you wish to insult me further, I grew up in a generation who were taught to consider feelings but I do understand that is not what is acceptable behaviour nowadays, especially when there are no consequences for what you say)

le_loup

ClickyChick wrote: »

I've worked hard for my money

It's simply amazing how many people think they are the only ones who have worked hard for their money?

Sibbers123

ClickyChick wrote: »

I've worked hard for my money-90 to 120 hours a week for the last 3 decades

That's up to 18 hour days for 7 days a week... I think there are laws against that.

agrinnall

Sibbers123 wrote: »

That's up to 18 hour days for 7 days a week... I think there are laws against that.

There are laws to prevent you being made to work that long, but none to stop you if you choose to do it (although you'd be mad to work such hours in my opinion).

redpete

Sibbers123 wrote: »

Subs to scouts and brownies will not qualify for gift aid as you are receiving something in return (well your children are).

You're wrong. I've managed gift aid for a scout group for many years.
(I might agree if you said these subs *shouldn't* qualify for Gift Aid tax relief but they definitely do.)

Spidernick

I have some sympathy with the OP, as withdrawing the personal allowance for higher earners was pernicious to my mind, not least as it leads to an effective 60% tax rate for earnings in the bracket of the phase-out of the allowance (I am not affected by this, just to be clear). However, it is what it is and no doubt George Osborne (who introduced this, from memory) thought that this would cause less of a ruckus, as it affects so few people. Also the top tax rate was 60% until 30 years ago, so it could be worse.

I might be getting the wrong end of the stick, but the OP seems to want something like they have in the States, i.e. joint tax filing (with higher allowances for those who do this). Those who argue again the child benefit claw back also seem to want the same (as they are upset that two earners can each earn £50K and not lose Child Benefit, whereas a sole earner on £60K loses it all). Given how hard women fought for Independent Taxation (and which came in surprisingly recently in the scheme of things) I personally feel this would be a retrograde step.

All tax systems have winners and losers and that is never going to change, I'm afraid.

Finally, I agree with others that getting some benefit does not preclude a payment qualifying for Gift Aid, which is why you will be asked to complete a Gift Aid form when visiting a zoo, museum, etc.