More Detail on Gift Aid

IF YOU HAVE A QUERY ABOUT GIFT AID, YOU CAN EMAIL THE CHAIRPERSON

at the Trust email address scotiaedtrust@gmail.com

As a UK Tax Payer

The Gift Aid scheme is for gifts of money by individuals who pay UK tax. You can increase the value of your gifts to Scotia Education Trust at no cost to yourself, by allowing the charity to claim basic rate  tax back on your donations.

Simply complete a Gift Aid form and post or email to the chairperson – email address at the bottom of this page.

HOW IT WORKS

. The charity receives your donation - money on which you’ve already paid tax  and the charity can reclaim the basic rate tax from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Basic rate tax is 20 per cent (2022), so if you give £10 using Gift Aid, this was £12.50 before you paid 20% tax (£2.50). T he charity gets your donation of £10 plus £2.50 tax back, so the charity receives £ 12.50 in total for your donation of £10.

If you are not a UK Tax Payer. What happens?

If you do not pay tax to the UK Government, you cannot gift-aid your donation or ask anyone else to gift-aid your donation. You can of course encourage UK Tax payers to send their own donations and to gift-aid those.

To check if you have paid enough tax?

To work this out, divide the donation value by four. For example, if you give £100 in a particular tax year you will need to have paid £25 tax over that period. (Note that this calculation is based on the basic rate tax of 20 per cent). See the HMRC website for more details.

If you no longer pay enough tax

If your circumstances change and you no longer pay enough tax in the tax year to cover all the donations you have made in that year, then you should  inform the chairperson. The email address of the chairperson is at the bottom of this page.

Does it matter how I pay tax?

You don’t necessarily have to be working to be paying tax. Apart from tax on income from a job or self-employment, the tax you've paid could include:

  • tax deducted at source from savings interest

  • tax on State Pension and/or other pensions

  • tax on investment or rental income

  • Capital Gains Tax on gains

But only UK tax counts.

Higher rate tax payers can reclaim from HMRC

The difference between higher rate tax 40 or 50 per cent and basic rate of tax 20 per cent on the total ‘gross’ value of your donation to the charity can be reclaimed from HMRC.

For example, a 40% higher rate tax payer earning £100, receives £60 after tax. From a donation of £80 to a charity, the charity can claim £20, (the 20% basic tax payable on £100) and the 40% tax payer can claim back the other 20% (i.e £20) frrom HMRC.

You can make this claim on your Self Assessment tax return, if you were sent one. For more information see the relevant page on the HMRC website.

More information

Go to the HMRC website where there are also factsheets on gift-aid.