Gift Aid on charity shop donations & tax

sev8

Hi,

I always Gift Aid my donations to my local charity shop and once in a while, I get a statement that tells me how much they sold the items that I donated for.  If I make a cash donation to a charity, I can mark it as a "Gift Aid payment made" on my self-assessment return.  Can I do anything similar with my donations of goods that are then sold?

I've wondered about this for a while, so it'd be nice to have an answer.

sev8

TheSpectator

Are you a higher rate taxpayer?

DRS1

sev8 said:

Hi,

I always Gift Aid my donations to my local charity shop and once in a while, I get a statement that tells me how much they sold the items that I donated for.  If I make a cash donation to a charity, I can mark it as a "Gift Aid payment made" on my self-assessment return.  Can I do anything similar with my donations of goods that are then sold?

I've wondered about this for a while, so it'd be nice to have an answer.

sev8

British Heart Foundation do this (although when I tried it they messed up the names and numbers so I never found out what they sold anything for or if there was any gift aid benefit)

mybestattempt

sev8 said:

Hi,

I always Gift Aid my donations to my local charity shop and once in a while, I get a statement that tells me how much they sold the items that I donated for.  If I make a cash donation to a charity, I can mark it as a "Gift Aid payment made" on my self-assessment return.  Can I do anything similar with my donations of goods that are then sold?

I've wondered about this for a while, so it'd be nice to have an answer.

sev8

The legislation (at S413 Income Tax Act 2007) allows for only gifts of money.

However, if it can be demonstrated that a charity sold goods on behalf of a person who then donated the proceeds to the charity then then gift aid may be claimed.

The guidance at the link below covers this at Chapter 3.42:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charities-detailed-guidance-notes/chapter-3-gift-aid#chapter-342-claiming-gift-aid-when-goods-are-sold-by-and-the-proceeds-gifted-to-charities

Jeremy535897

When you gift goods to a charity shop, they should give you a "membership" number to use , after you have told them you want to gift aid the proceeds. Then they should write to you when any of the goods are sold, with details of the proceeds and ask for confirmation within a few days that they can keep the proceeds (no response means yes). Those proceeds are the net amount you treat as subject to gift aid.

DRS1

Jeremy535897 said:

When you gift goods to a charity shop, they should give you a "membership" number to use , after you have told them you want to gift aid the proceeds. Then they should write to you when any of the goods are sold, with details of the proceeds and ask for confirmation within a few days that they can keep the proceeds (no response means yes). Those proceeds are the net amount you treat as subject to gift aid.

Yes BHF never quite got to this stage for me (probably because they gave me someone else's number).  It might be wise to test out your chosen charity with a small item before doing anything bigger (if gift aid matters to you).

sev8

TheSpectator said:

Are you a higher rate taxpayer?

I am, yes

mybestattempt said:

sev8 said:

Hi,

I always Gift Aid my donations to my local charity shop and once in a while, I get a statement that tells me how much they sold the items that I donated for.  If I make a cash donation to a charity, I can mark it as a "Gift Aid payment made" on my self-assessment return.  Can I do anything similar with my donations of goods that are then sold?

I've wondered about this for a while, so it'd be nice to have an answer.

sev8

The legislation (at S413 Income Tax Act 2007) allows for only gifts of money.

However, if it can be demonstrated that a charity sold goods on behalf of a person who then donated the proceeds to the charity then then gift aid may be claimed.

The guidance at the link below covers this at Chapter 3.42:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charities-detailed-guidance-notes/chapter-3-gift-aid#chapter-342-claiming-gift-aid-when-goods-are-sold-by-and-the-proceeds-gifted-to-charities

Ah, that's really helpful.  Thanks!