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.

Marue I'm happy to gift aid my entrance fee to museums and similar. I have never been asked or required to pay 10% extra in order to gift aid. I wouldn't gift aid if expected to do that. Can you link to an organisation/charity that does this % top up?

Organisiations can only claim gift aid on donations, not fees. By adding an extra donation on top of the fee though they can then claim gift aid on the whole amount.

Everywhere I've been rings up the higher amount automatically so unless you know to ask that's what you'd pay. It does seem that more places are being clearer about it than they were a few years ago.

Bristol Zoo
National Trust

Organisiations can only claim gift aid on donations, not fees. By adding an extra donation on top of the fee though they can then claim gift aid on the whole amount

But why does the addition of £2 suddenly transform the entire fee portion into a donation?

Below is taken directly from Poole's Cavern web site:

^Become a Gift Aid Visitor
Giftaid logo
Did you know Buxton Civic Association Ltd is a charity? If you're a UK taxpayer and you agree, the government will give us an extra 25% on top of your admission fee.

It's called a Gift Aid visit and it makes a massive difference to attractions like Poole’s Cavern and Buxton Country Park. Just ask at the pay desk to complete a quick Gift Aid declaration form, there's nothing extra to pay and as a thank-you we will give you free admission for a year (special events not included).

Your extra money will go towards local woodland conservation and heritage projects.^

www.poolescavern.co.uk/opening-times/

A PP mentioned Paignton Zoo, they have two tiers for Gift Aid here

Penfold the key difference is the "free admission for a year" - see my post of Tuesday 15:54 - Poole's Cavern (like The Eden Project, and the SS Great Britain to name two I know of) have chosen the route to transform all admission fees into, effectively, membership fees - if admission lasts a whole year they can get gift aid without charging any extra.

Other places people have mentioned, e.g. National Trust properties, don't have the free-for-a-year offer so have to go the other route which means people have to make an extra VOLUNTARY donation for it to be gift aided. If the extra rate isn't voluntary then they are breaking the rules.

Re higher tax rate etc, DH got massively into this a year or two ago when we realised our annual membership to would be cheaper if we added him to our membership, because we would be able to claim back so-and-so in tax. AND if he claimed everything we donated in a year - including the stuff we take to the charity shop - it took us back under the child benefit threshold so we got even more back.

The charity we donate stuff to sends him a statement at the end of the tax year iirc and he copies the details into his self assessment form. He has to do a form anyway as he has some non-PAYE earnings, but the amount he could claim back for charitable giving would have made it worthwhile anyway.

cos thems the rules Maid! No one ever claimed that tax had to make any sense.

It changed years and years (more than 10) ago, when the 10% thing was brought it. I think originally charities were claiming on all the entrance fees, HMRC objected and changed the rules but due to the loss to charity agreed this 10% donation rule.

If you are a higher (or additional) rate tax payer you only get the additional relief by claiming it on your self-assessment tax return. www.gov.uk/donating-to-charity/gift-aid

You can only claim the tax relief on donations you have actually gift-aided (i.e. filled in the gift aid form for the charity).