Reclaim back tax

nickpowell77

Hi there,

I recently gave a charity a £100 donation but it wasn't gift aided. Is it possible through my self assessment to claim back the full 40% in tax relief? (as I'm a higher rate tax payer)

I've searched on Google but all hits relate to claiming back just the 18% following gift aid.

Many thanks
Nick

Savvy_Sue

Can you not retrospectively Gift Aid the donation?

If you contact the charity and say you'd like to donate your recent gift, it should be a trivial matter to do that, you can backdate it for up to 6 (I think) years.

I don't know if that answers your question fully, but it certainly benefits the charity.

lamb7994

From what the HMRC site says you need to send a letter to the charity detailing you donation and informing them you want to gift aid it:


Donors must

• pay enough UK income tax and/or capital gains tax themselves to cover the amount of tax the charity will reclaim
• give the charity a gift aid declaration, which should include
  - their name
  - their home address
  - the charity’s name
  - details of the donation – saying that it is a gift aid donation
  - confirmation that they have paid UK tax – to cover the tax the charity will reclaim

A declaration can be made to cover individual donations,a series of donations, can cover donations made during a specified period or to cover all future donations. They can also be backdated for up to 6 years prior to the date of the declaration provided the donation was made since 6 April 2000.


James

oldtoolie

To sum it up:

If you are a High Rate tax payer, you can get a rebate on the difference between the basic rate of tax and the high rate of tax. That is the 18% and you claim that on your tax return.

The basic tax that you have paid on your donation can be claimed by the charity if you have made a Gift Aid eligibility declaration. If the charity does not claim the tax the Treasury keeps it.

If you are a high rate taxpayer, it probably wouldn't hurt you to be a bit more generous. £100 isn't much. That's the fundraiser in me speaking. [of course, I don't know what other demands you face]

Happy New Year to all

GiveItBack

The tax incentives in the UK are different from those in, say, the USA, where donors can claim back tax on all donations. Here the tax goes to the charity, rather than the donor, although higher rate taxpayers can reclaim the extra part.

However, the vest way to give if you're a higher rate taxpayer is to donate the extra, and reclaim the portion, so that the net cost to you is the amount you would have iven.

EG. Instead of giving £100 and that's the end of it, give £130. The charity claims the Gift aid on it £166.67 goes to charity, you claim back the 18% on the total gift = £30. Cost to you £100, income to charity £166.67

Thought for 2008 - be daring, add a nought! (Not very MSE, but hey)

jiblets1

Well, Nick, I for one think that anyone that gives to charity should be commended, and not criticised for giving "only" £100. There are plenty of us that could afford to give and don't, so I just wanted to say well done for your donation.

GiveItBack

Oh, hel yeah jiblets. Re reading my post and wondering if I came across as not positive. I thnk it's great that Nick gave a good donation, so I'll second your thanks to him.

And encourage everyone else to see how some of their hard earned could have a real positive effect on the world.

oldtoolie

Oh, if Nick had made his gift to the charity where I work, he would have received a nice hand-signed thank you letter which would talk about some of the things his gift helps to accomplish -- as does everyone who makes a donation large or small. Certainly any giving is commendable.

The point is that if you are a high-rate taxpayer, £100 is at most 1/4 of one percent of your annual income.

Personally, I think charitable giving should be part of your annual budget. That way you can decide what you will give to and how much. You can make sure that it is tax efficient.

If you have done that and are satisfied with your contributions, you can walk past all those face-to-face fundraisers and (tax-inefficient) tin rattlers with a smile saying truthfully, 'I have already given.'

Savvy_Sue

and if he sent it to our charity and we didn't have a Gift Aid form, we'd send him one with an sae along with the personal hand-signed thank you letter. (I hand-wrote one letter just before Christmas - a gift for a particular project which we are hoping to get started this year tipped the pot over £100,000! Lovely Christmas pressie for us!)

GiveItBack

agree with both SavvySue and oldtoolie. It's up to charities to help show donors how they're helping - and how to be tax efficient. We just recently upped a donation from a Higher Rate taxpayer donor from1000 to 1300, (so 1666.67 for us) after letting him know about the reclaiming aspect, and how he could give so much more by making a NET donation of 1000 (he'll be claiming back the 300)

of course, that doesn't mean I only tell OUR donors how to be tax efficient, which is why I loiter here, and in several other places to do the same.