Make your donations go further

Gift Aid is a scheme operated by HMRC that allows charities to claim the basic rate tax on on a donation made by a UK taxpayer. This means that your donations will worth 25% more to us at no additional cost to you. So if you donated £100 to SCCCC, it means that you could actually be giving us £125.

Giving under Gift Aid means that so much more money can be raised at no extra cost to our donors and it really does make a big difference.

Gift Aid – the facts

• For individuals, the Gift Aid rules require the completion of a Gift Aid Declaration Form. This provides us with the minimum information required for us to be able to claim Gift Aid on a donation.
• We can't claim Gift Aid on donations from company accounts. The donation must be your own money and not the proceeds of a collection where the donor cannot be traced back.
• You need to be paying income tax or capital gains tax which at least equals the amount SCCCC will claim in the appropriate tax year (6 April one year to 5 April the next). This is currently 25p for every £1 you give.
• Gift Aid can be claimed on individual and sponsorship donations that are made to SCCCC, so if you are being sponsored, ask your sponsors to complete their own gift aid declarations. Or even better set up an online giving page where Gift Aid is automatically claimed through the website.
• If you are asking for donations instead of gifts or flowers on a special occasion, we can send you some pre-printed envelopes. Using these will ensure we can claim the maximum Gift Aid on top of the donations themselves.

Gift Aid Declaration Forms

Any charity has to be able to provide, when requested, a valid declaration through which Gift Aid has been claimed, so it’s important that any forms sent back to us are accurate and complete. All Gift Aid Declaration Forms should include the following:

• The name of our charity
• The full name and home address of the person making the declaration, including their postcode. Declarations cannot be made jointly
• A clear indication that the person wants to make a declaration (normally a tick box is used), and a statement as to which donations are to be covered by the declaration.
• A statement that the person making the declaration understands that they have paid sufficient Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax to cover the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all of their donations in that tax year and they should be aware that it is their responsibility to pay any difference.
• A reminder that supporters should inform us of any changes in their tax circumstances or name/home address.
  Our standard Gift Aid form includes all the above.

Higher Rate Tax Payers and Gift Aid

If you pay higher rate tax, you can claim the difference between the higher rate of tax you pay and the basic rate of tax (currently 20 per cent) on the total 'gross' value of your donation. If you want to receive the additional tax relief you must include all your Gift Aid donations on your Self-Assessment tax return or ask HMRC to adjust your tax code.

Contact us

If you have any questions about Gift Aid, please get in touch on 0114 250 5293.