Gift Aid Declaration
Adding Gift Aid to your donations can boost their value by 25%!
What is Gift Aid?
Gift Aid is a government scheme that allows Helen & Douglas House to reclaim the tax that you have already paid on your donations through UK income tax or capital gains tax.
All individual donations (excluding those made through the Charities Aid Foundation, which are already subject to tax relief) are eligible for the scheme – including regular gifts such as Standing Orders and Direct Debits. We can claim Gift Aid on donations made in the last four years and on future donations once we receive your declaration.
If you are currently fundraising for Helen & Douglas House, you can encourage those supporting you to tick the Gift Aid box on your sponsor form or gift aid form if they are eligible. This means Helen & Douglas House will receive an extra 25% on top of their donation.
More about Gift Aid
Why do I need to make a declaration?
The declaration allows Helen & Douglas House to reclaim the tax from HMRC on your donations. By making the Gift Aid declaration, you are confirming that you are happy for us to do this.
How do I know if I am a UK taxpayer?
You are a UK tax payer if:
- Tax is taken from your wages or pension before you receive them.
- You have to fill in a self-assessment form.
- You have any taxable savings (in a Building Society, for instance), or a pension plan, or investment income you have recently paid any capital gains tax, or expect to pay it in the near future. This could be on the sale of a property or some shares, for example.
What if I pay tax at the higher rate?
We can only claim back tax at the basic rate, but that is still worth 25% extra on your donations to us, so please provide us with a declaration anyway.
If you pay higher rate tax, you can claim the difference between the higher rate of tax and the basic rate of tax on the total (gross) value of your donation to Helen & Douglas House. You can make this claim on your Self Assessment tax return if you were sent one. We would suggest speaking to your accountant if you would like to do this.
Gift Aid and your donations to our shops
When you donate items to one of our shops, we can Gift Aid the proceeds from the sale of these items. In order to fulfil HMRC’s requirements, we must ask you to agree to an Agency Agreement as well as a Gift Aid Declaration. Details of what these are, and how this works, can be found here.
When Gift Aid cannot be claimed
- Making a donation in return for tickets (raffles, events and auctions) or goods and services (including ‘experience’ days). This is because you are getting something in return for your donation.
- Making a donation on behalf of someone else or a group of people. For example, if a friend gives you £10 which you donate to your Fundraising Page using your own card and details. Even if your friend is a UK taxpayer, the donation is not eligible because HMRC needs to know the details of the person actually contributing the funds.
- Making a donation on behalf of a company. You can only make Gift Aid declarations on your own taxpayer status when spending your own money. However, a company can claim tax relief on the donation when donating directly to the charity.
- Making a donation to a family member who’s taking part in an event and their charity is contributing to the cost. For example, if you’re donating to a close family member who is doing an overseas trek and the charity is paying for the cost of their trip.