HMRC published for consultation the draft regulations for The Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS). Consultation will end on 5 December 2012.
It is intended that under the scheme all qualifying charities and community amateur sports clubs (CASCs) will be able to claim a top-up payment which is equivalent to Gift Aid on small cash donations totalling up to £5,000 per year, without the need for individual Gift Aid declarations.
The present system of Gift Aid is a simple way for your charity to increase the value of donations of money from taxpayers by claiming back from the Government the basic rate of tax paid by the donor. However, donors must:-
- Pay enough UK income tax and/or capital gains tax themselves to cover the amount of tax the organisation will reclaim from the government
- Complete a Gift Aid declaration form for the organisation, which should include:
- name
- home address
- organisation's name
- confirmation it is a gift aid donation
- confirmation the donor has paid UK tax to cover the tax the organisation will reclaim
The new scheme will allow charities and CASCs to claim a Gift Aid style payment on donations received in circumstances which were previously time consuming and difficult, for example a charity collection can, or where donors were reluctant to give details. The scheme also removes the requirement for charities to obtain a Gift Aid declaration for donations of £20 or less, up to an annual total of £5,000 of donations per charity.
The draft regulations set out the general administrative framework for GASDS which are due to be introduced from 6 April 2013.
Please contact our charities team if you would like any additional information or advice.
