Gift Aid information

What is Gift Aid?

If you are a UK tax payer Gift Aid increases your charitable donations by 25% - it allows Sightsavers to reclaim the basic rate tax on your gifts.

How does Gift Aid work?

The Gift Aid scheme is for gifts of money by individuals who pay UK tax. Gift Aid donations are regarded as having basic rate tax deducted by the donor. Charities take your donation  (which is money you've already paid tax on) and reclaim the basic rate tax from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Basic rate tax is currently 20 per cent, so this means that if you give £10 using Gift Aid, it’s worth £12.50 to Sightsavers at no extra cost to you. 

Have you paid enough tax?

For your charitable donations to be eligible for Gift Aid you have to have paid tax at least equal to the amount that will be claimed under the scheme by all the charities or Community Amateur Sports Clubs that you donate to. To work out if you’ve paid enough tax to cover your donations, divide the total value of your donations by four. For example, if you give £100 in a particular tax year (6 April to 5 April) you will need to have paid £25 tax over that period. (£100/4 = £25). (Note that this calculation is based on the basic rate tax of 20 per cent)

And remember you don’t necessarily have to be working to be paying tax. Apart from tax on income from a job or self-employment, the tax you’ve paid could include:

• tax deducted at source from savings interest
  
• tax on State Pension and/or other pensions
  
• tax on investment or rental income
  
• Capital Gains Tax on gains
  
• But only UK tax counts and taxes such as VAT and Council Tax do not qualify

How to sign up for Gift Aid

To make your donations eligible for Gift Aid you need to make a Gift Aid declaration. Your declaration will allow Sightsavers to claim Gift Aid on all future donations and those made in the last four years until you tell us otherwise. 

Why not complete your Sightsavers Gift Aid declaration today and start making your gifts worth 25% more.

Claiming back higher rate tax

If you pay higher rate tax, you can claim the difference between the higher rate of tax 40 and/or 50 per cent and the basic rate of tax 20 per cent on the total 'gross' value of your charitable donations.

For example, if you donate £100, the total value of your donation to the charity is £125 - so you can claim back:

• £25 - if you pay tax at 40 per cent (£125 × 20%)
• £37.50 - if you pay tax at 50 per cent (£125 × 20%) plus (£125 × 10%)

You can make this claim on your Self Assessment tax return, if you were sent one. If you don’t complete a return, you can give the details on form P810 Tax Review which is available from your Tax Office.