Donations to charity

You may be able to get some tax relief for the donation. To do this, firstly make sure that you have signed a Gift Aid declaration from Cancer Research, and that you have completed all of the necessary details on this form.

Next, make sure you will pay enough tax to cover the tax the charity will be claiming. To check this, divide your donation by four, and make sure it is less than your tax bill for the tax year the donation is made.

Because you have made this donation after your ‘bumper’ tax year, the donation should be claimed on next year’s return. However, you can carry the donation back; provided you paid enough tax in that year (calculation above) and you must not have filed that tax return yet.

As a rough guide, the tax relief you will obtain will be 25% of the donation if you are a higher rate tax payer and 3/8 if you are an additional rate tax payer.

If you would like to discuss this or any other accountancy or tax matter, please feel free to contact your local TaxAssist Accountant.

Date published 5 Dec 2012

This article is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this article, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.