Charities: Gift Aid

At this time, a charity can also increase its income receipts by making a gift aid claim, either through the usual process or under the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS).

Click here for our March 2019 issue, which looked at this in more detail.

Some key points are:

• Ensure that valid gift aid declarations are in place for all claims being made. Do current declarations relate to one off donations or future donations? Where declarations have been held for several years, should these be revisited to ensure donor remains a tax-payer?
• Ensure any donor benefits are minimal, changes in the Finance Act 2019 allow for a benefit of 25% of the value of donations up to £100 and thereafter 5% up to a maximum benefit of £2,500.
• Consider submitting individual claims where large one-off donations have been gifted aided. If an error is subsequently discovered, an entire claim may be recovered by HMRC. By making individual submission claims for large donations, income can be ring fenced and protected.
• Where an auction, a fundraising or a challenge event is to be held, please discuss with your tax adviser before proceeding, as there are not only gift aid, but VAT consequences which need to be understood and accounted for at the outset.
• Consider whether gift aid could be claimed on admission fees by amending the charity’s admission policies.

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Geoffrey Cox, Deborah Austin, Brian Jukes or Lucy Hatton in our specialist Charity team.