just pondering how this would/could work to get at the 28p per =A3 "carrot" i relation to schools (esp primary)...
at mo the usual constant dribble of requests, events etc etc that all add up to a few thousand =A3 over a year, which could be worth upto 28% more if it's doable...and worthwhile...
ta Jim K
I think GA only works with properly constituted charities. Not sure if all schools can do this but an organisation set up to support the school such as a PTA should be able to get charitable status.
Bob
My sons' secondary school asks for a lump donation of 20 quid at the start of the yera, and leaves it at that. They include a Gift Aid declaration with the begging letter.
You'd need to become a registered charity. And BTW, it's only been 25% since the standard tax rate was reduced to 20% a couple of years ago - or whenever. [A lot of charities are still quoting 28%, but that was only true when the tax rate was 22%!]
Yes; and then again, no.
The reduction in the basic rate did indeed mean that a charity can only claim 25p for every pound donated. But HMRC will automatically pay another 3p for every pound donated as a transitional relief until 5 April 2011. So the charity does get 28p in total. Charities lobbied hard for this relief as they would otherwise have seen their income drop unexpectedly.
And people wonder why tax is complicated.
Yup already are.
mmm I'll check but ISTR reading the Govt was topping up with an extra
3 in the pound??is this out of date now?
Oops - I'd obviously missed the bit about the 3p topup. Looks like it will revert to 25% next year though.
Schools can use GA and do not have to be charities. The rules are little complex in that the money has to be a "gift" rather than payment for a particular thing (e.g. a school trip). So they can't get GA if parents pay for each trip at a time. However, as in your son's secondary school, you can pay a annual or termly "gift" (which covers all the trips) and the school can claim gift aid on that.
Can you please point me to the basis for this? (I used to be familiar with gift aid for exempt and excepted charities which did not need to
*register* and with small charities whose income was below £5,000 pa but I never knew there was gift aid for bodies which were not even charities - other than community amateur sports clubs and the handful of statutory bodies .)
Apparently, with some strings, they *can* use it for a single trip...
Speaking as a school governor I can tell you that we were instructed by the LA to change to a termly or annual amount, otherwise we were would not be permitted to claim GA on donations for school trips.
And the admin would be a nightmare...
" 3.43 Educational school trips
3.43.1HM Revenue & Customs Charities received approaches from schools and PTA=92s enquiring if Gift Aid could be used in respect of voluntary contributions toward educational school trips.
3.43.2The following text has been passed to the Department of Education and is to be included in advice issued by the department to schools.
In schools, other than independent schools, the education provided wholly or mainly during school hours is free. This means that head teachers may not impose a charge on parents for any visit that is undertaken as part of the National Curriculum and occurs during school hours. The head teacher may, however, ask for a voluntary contribution.
Parents must be made aware that the contribution is not compulsory, and the children of parents who do not contribute may not be discriminated against. It is permissible for the school to ask parents to contribute more than the minimum amount in order to subsidise those pupils whose parents have not contributed. However, if there are not enough voluntary contributions and the shortfall cannot be made up, the visit may have to be cancelled. Gift Aid
Voluntary parental contributions to charitable schools or charities associated with LEA schools to assist schools to send pupils on educational school trips in school time may be eligible for tax relief under the Gift Aid scheme,
#### provided the usual requirements of the scheme are satisfied ####
and in particular:
For a donation of =A30 - =A3100 the value of the benefits must not exceed
25% of the donation. For a donation of =A3101 - =A31000 the value of the benefits must not exceed =A325.Benefits include travel costs, trip insurance, cost of entry and associated educational material, cost of food and drink supplied and any other costs associated with the trip (costs averaged per pupil if appropriate). In general, however, it is likely that the benefits associated with a school trip contribution will exceed the maximum level of permissible benefits and so the donation will not come within the Gift Aid scheme"
my #### highlight...
would those usual requiremnts be "a charity", "registered with HMRC" etc etc etc?
reading further (above) it seems tricky to do a trip without tripping up on the 25% benefit limitation
which would fit with Mark's comment re LA advice to do single termly/ annual donations to get GA benefit for trips (amongst all other uses)
Jim K
As so often with tax legislation, the devil is in the detail. That page links to
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