Charities to benefit from Gift Aid overhaul

HMRC has announced that Gift Aid rules will be changed to give more flexibility to charity donors using online platforms and text messaging.

The new rules will make it easier for charities to comply with the rules and gives intermediaries a more significant role in providing Gift Aid.

Proposals

Responses to the recent consultations will be reviewed by the Government, and changes to The Donations to Charity (Gift Aid Declarations) Regulations 2016 will be made later this year.

Currently, rules stipulate that Gift Aid claims need the name of the donor, their address, and proof that the donor is a taxpayer in order to qualify. This puts extra pressure on the intermediary or charity that needs to collect and administer the information.

The new proposals implement a system of one declaration per intermediary, which will ease the current administrative burden.

Requirements

The 70,000 charities that currently claim Gift Aid are likely to welcome this move, though there are also new mandatory donor intermediary requirements.

These will mean that records must be kept about the donor’s authorisation allowing intermediaries to complete declarations on the donor’s behalf. There must also be a yearly statement sent to donors who use the new process.

Donor intermediaries will have to send this statement out to anyone who has donated to more than one charity with the total amount exceeding £5.