Many employers encourage employees to take part in charitable giving. For one off and multiple donations the donor has to complete a gift aid declaration.
From 6 April these declarations are changing and HMRC has provided model gift aid declarations which have received mixed blessings.
The new forms can be downloaded from here –
multiple donations single donationsThe text of the new declarations has been rearranged to improve the message. The interesting wording is:
“I am a UK taxpayer and understand that if I pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax in the current tax year than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all my donations it is my responsibility to pay any difference.”
Although there has always been a principle that the donor has responsibility for paying the words and charities are concerned this may impact negatively on donations.
However, HMRC are concerned that they could be paying up to £55 million in error to charities – a figure estimated by the National Audit Office.
The new statements must be used from 6 April though HMRC accepts that charities use old forms if they were ordered and printed before 21 October 2015.
Learn Comment
Whilst this is not relevant to charitable giving through the payroll, employers do sometimes run special events for which they get employees to complete declarations.
