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Gift Aid Scheme

ActivityForum supports the Gift Aid Scheme which was introduced in 1990 and modified in 2000. The scheme enables United Kingdom resident individuals to give gifts of money to charity tax-effectively. Finance Act 2000 amended the Gift Aid scheme for donations made by individuals on or after 6 April 2000.

The main changes were to:

· abolish the minimum limit for Gift Aid donations, so that the scheme applies to any donation, whether large or small, regular or one-off

· replace the requirement for donors to give the charity a Gift Aid certificate with a requirement to give a new, simpler and more flexible Gift Aid declaration

· allow donors to give a written Gift Aid declaration by post, by fax or by Internet or an oral declaration over the phone or face to face.

· allow

o Crown servants and members of the UK armed services serving overseas, and

o other non-UK-resident individuals who make donations out of income or gains charged to UK tax,
to use the new Gift Aid scheme.

The Gift Aid Declaration

Before a charity can reclaim tax on a donation by an individual, it must have received a Gift Aid declaration from the donor containing certain information and confirming that the donation is to be treated as a Gift Aid donation. Without this declaration, a donation from an individual will not qualify under the scheme.

All Gift Aid declarations must contain:

· the donor’s name

· the donor’s home address

· the charity’s name

· a description of the donations to which the declaration relates

· a declaration that the donations are to be treated as Gift Aid donations and, except in the case of a declaration given orally:

· a note explaining the requirement that the donor must pay an amount of income tax and/or capital gains tax equal to the tax deducted from his or her donations.