Inland Revenue consults on Gift Aid and admission charges
Howard Lake | 1 April 2004 | News
The Inland Revenue is considering removing the exemption that allowed heritage and wildlife charities to claim Gift Aid on entry fees, and is seeking feedback from interested parties.
In a letter to charities, Mark Nellthorp, Business Director at the Inland Revenue Charities division, argues that reclassifying admission fees as donations on which Gift Aid may be claimed does not actually promote additional giving to charity, which is the function of Gift Aid.
“The Government is not seeking to remove the ability of charities to raise income from visitors”, adds Mr Nellthorp, “but wants to focus efforts on encouraging new donations in line with the underlying principles of the Gift Aid scheme – to promote additional giving to charity.”
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The Inland Revenue is welcoming views from any charity likely to be affected by a change to the statutory exemption. It is also arranging to meet with representative bodies and associations from the heritage and conservation sectors to discuss the issue.
Responses should be sent to the Inland Revenue by 11 June 2004.
You can read the letter dated 29 March 2004 in Adobe Acrobat format.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.