Hate the gift aid rules

[Marue]

I always pay gift aid amount as I can afford it and feel to guilty not to pay it, but I hate the updated rule where you have to volunteer to pay 10% more so they can claim back 25%, especially as I'm a higher rate tax payer and paying out of my taxed income for these things.

I do worry that some people that can barely afford the normal entry pay this increased amount out of guilt.

Maid - there's a section for it in the self- assessment form.

And yes, all of that counts provided you hve made gift aid declarations to each organisation.

Gift aid is not something you pay - it's something the Government pay. Refuse to pay any extra (i don't know anywhere that charges a person extra!) but offer your details so that the charity can claim the gift aid as it's only tax payers that they can claim it off

But I've never had to a self-assessment so I had no idea of this.

I assumed self-assessment was for self-employed people and their business income/spending.

What else is on there that I'm missing....

I didn't realise I had slipped out of the tax payer bracket and signed the gift aid form when I paid an entrance fee somewhere. I was then fined £46 by HMRC for claiming it incorrectly.

I often don't gift aid firstly partly because I used to earn very little, so only paid a little tax. I didn't want to gift aid more than I actually paid in tax!!!

Also, while I don't agree with everything the government spends taxes on, I would rather my tax went towards the NHS/schools than to a museum or some charities.

That's exactly what I don't want to happen, Footle!

no you don't need to be doing self assessment! you just need to be a tax payer, you tell the charity (well, normally they ask you) and the charity do the claiming

But the charity only claim 20%. There is an extra 20% of income tax relief going unclaimed (if you pay in the 40% bracket).

It is this that I think requires a self-assessment form.

Gift Aid is essentially income tax relief, yes?

Lynette, I wasn't overjoyed about it. A through-the-looking-glass moment.

I think the OP is talking about entrance prices rather than the sponsorship type aid.

I have noticed a lot of this recently. I think paignton and bristol zoo do it. @bristol too. They charge a price which includes your gift aid donation and you can ask for the standard price without donating instead. I was too embarrassed to ask for the standard price last time- despite wanting to.

I think the OP is talking about entrance prices rather than the sponsorship type aid.

I have noticed a lot of this recently. I think paignton and bristol zoo do it. @bristol too. They charge a price which includes your gift aid donation and you can ask for the standard price without donating instead. I was too embarrassed to ask for the standard price last time- despite wanting to.

I think the OP is talking about entrance prices rather than the sponsorship type aid.

I have noticed a lot of this recently. I think paignton and bristol zoo do it. @bristol too. They charge a price which includes your gift aid donation and you can ask for the standard price without donating instead. I was too embarrassed to ask for the standard price last time- despite wanting to.

guilting people into doing it
I agree with you on that - anyone on a low income shouldn't feel pressured into paying more than the minimum. But when money is tight I have no issue with saying I only want to pay the basic admission price and have never had an impolite or guilt-inducing reply.

Who is asking you for an extra 10% op? I've never come across that ever.

Who is asking you for an extra 10% op? I've never come across that ever.

General overview on Gift Aid and tax here

And those who don't want to pay the gift aid price at attractions can simply tell the staff that they're not UK taxpayers and therefore not eligible. This should be accepted by the staff member without question.

I have seen it quite a lot, eg museums with an entrance charge, arts events. There are two prices on offer.

Here's a random example; an exhibition at Tate Modern. One price with donation for Gift Aid; another price for entrance alone.

I came across this at a National Trust place a few weeks ago. The website quoted separate prices but we were automatically charged the higher on entry.

How it works is that is you give say £80 to charity under gift aid, it can reclaim £20 from HMRC. So the charity gets £100, and it's cost you £80. You are deemed to have made a gift of £100, on which you have had 20% tax relief. If you are a basic rate tax (20%) payer, that means you've had your tax relief. If you put the payment on your tax return, then if you pay tax at 40% you'll get a further £20 tax relief, so it costs you £60 to give the charity £100. If you don't have to fill in a tax return, you can ask HMRC to include it in your PAYE code to get relief against tax payable on your salary.

However if you don't pay tax of at least £20, the charity shouldn't be claiming the £20 from HMRC, which is why they ask you to confirm you're a tax payer. If you think you are a taxpayer claim gift aid and put it on your tax return but actually only have to pay £12 tax, HMRC will require you to pay over the remaining £8.

A pp explained the reason for the 10% extra upthread. If you pay tax at a top rate of basic rate, the only reason for gift aiding is to give the charity more money - you get no benefit. If you pay tax at 40 or 45% you will be better off by gift aiding an entrance fee - as long as you remember to claim it!

Lynette Also, while I don't agree with everything the government spends taxes on, I would rather my tax went towards the NHS/schools than to a museum or some charities.

Schools and the NHS should be properly funded by the government but they are not. Government funding often falls short of what is actually needed to provide a comprehensive service. Do you really feel that government money claimed back by charities which try to plug that shortfall is wasted? What about medical charities funding research to try to prevent diseases which drain NHS resources? What about special needs schools, adult social care charities? The British Heart Foundation, The Samaritans, Marie Curie, Barnardos, GOSH?

I can see what you are saying but the government relies on many charities to plug the gap between what it provides and what is actually needed. What these charities can claim back from the government in the form of gift aid is peanuts compared to what it would cost the government to fund the services properly in the first place. From that point of view gift aid is a bargain for the government.

Permanentlyexhausted

Do you really feel that government money claimed back by charities which try to plug that shortfall is wasted?

Unfortunately, some of the charities which reclaim are not trying to plug that shortfall. Private schools for example. Others plug the gap by providing a reduced service, or by employing staff to deliver those services on much reduced wages,, terms and conditions. A lot of charities waste money too.

And I am struggling to think of an instance where the public provision + charity stopgap = proper fully funded effective service. So maybe that model doesn;t work, and actually charity provision is used as an instrument to reduce state responsibility.

charity provision is used as an instrument to reduce state responsibility

Now that's a whole new can of worms. It's not universally agreed what things are encompassed by "state responsibility". Because a conservative view of state spending on "good causes" like feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and healing the sick is that it is incorrect for the state to interfere in processes which should be down to individual and corporate charitable giving - and that the state ought to stop spending taxpayers money on these things but instead let individuals and corporations pay less tax and decide for themselves how much to give in order to provide these things. Just like in the good old victorian era.

Sorry if I've missed it. Why can't museums claim Gift Aid on the regular admission fee?