Questions and Answers
School Fees and Gift Aid
I am thinking of sending my youngest son to a private school. The school fees are going to be in the region of £12,000 per annum and on the correspondence I have recently received I noticed the school states that it is a registered charity. Does this mean that the payments I make for the fees each year qualify for tax relief under gift aid?
The school has become a registered charity so it can reclaim basic rate tax on the donations it receives on qualifying gift aid payments made from United Kingdomresident individuals and companies.
Unfortunately, outright payments to a charity in return for services, rights or goods are not gifts, and do not qualify for gift aid.
HM Revenue & Customs specifically state in their gift aid guidance booklet that “Payment of school fees for a specific person do not fall within the gift aid scheme” so your £12,000 will not qualify for relief.
Date published 5 Dec 2012
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