Gift aid

mike87ballard

Hi Martin and co.
Where ever possible I have ticked the box and given name and address details so that a charity has benefited from gift aid tax benefit. This includes direct debit subscriptions. I am also a registered donor to Sue Ryder charity shops. Sue Ryder will regularly send a letter detailing how much money they have made from my gifts and ask if I want the money or can they have it as those are the terms they operate under. If I do nothing ( always the case ) the default is the money goes to Sue Ryder. Having more time on my hands this month I fully read the rest of the letter and could see that if I paid no tax to HRMC in any given tax year any tax that the charity had claimed that year could become a tax liability against myself. Todate I have been fortunate to be fully employed under PAYE so not a problem. Moving into TY 20/21 my circumstances have changed and I do not envisage earning enough income to pay any tax.
Have I understood the situation correctly thus I ought to take steps to advise the various charities of my changed situation?
Is this some thing that ought to be given more publicity particularly as pensioners could easily fall into this category and if I recall; the wording on all charities gift aid tick box whilst saying are you a UK Tax payer no mention is made regarding any threshold levels that have to reached especially given that an individual could be signing up to lots of charities.
Any comments / thoughts welcome.
Many thanks.

Savvy_Sue

yes, you should notify charities if you do not anticipate that you'll be paying income tax in 2020-21. 

I've just looked at the example wording for a Gift Aid declaration, single and ongoing. How do you suggest it could be made clearer?

mike87ballard

I think that at the time of ticking the box the wording makes sense but I don't recall ever being given any copy of what has been signed up to regarding gift aid. You just think you are doing your bit for the charity.  It's the reminder to folks 10 to 20 months down the line that ought to be considered somehow particularly as human nature tends to stop us reading the small print for trustworthy charities.

Savvy_Sue

mike87ballard said:

I think that at the time of ticking the box the wording makes sense but I don't recall ever being given any copy of what has been signed up to regarding gift aid. You just think you are doing your bit for the charity.  It's the reminder to folks 10 to 20 months down the line that ought to be considered somehow particularly as human nature tends to stop us reading the small print for trustworthy charities.

I guess I agree that an annual reminder would be a good thing, but then Sue Ryder (and other charity shops) generally send you one - because they have ask if you want the Gift Aid back. I suspect that most charities would aim to contact regular donors at least once a year - I shall have to check when I next have time to draw breath at work whether we include a reminder along the lines of 'are you still paying tax?' to our Gift Aiders. 

Skint_n_clueless

Hi mike87ballard

A good example of a gift aid statement:

I am a UK taxpayer and understand that if I pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all my donations in that tax year it is my responsibility to pay any difference.
Please notify the charity if you: want to cancel this declaration/change your name or home address/no longer pay sufficient tax on your income and/or capital gains.

For a charity to contact their donors once a year to remind them of their own circumstances would further increase their costs and have quite the affect on their impact report when stating how much per £ is spent on charitable activities.

In the same way that it is our individual responsibility to check that our tax codes are correct, we should rightly take responsibility for our tax position too, no?