Sector bodies call for simpler Gift Aid system
Howard Lake | 1 October 2007 | News
A group of leading voluntary sector umbrella bodies has called for a simpler Gift Aid system and an easier administration system.
The group wants to improve the effectiveness of the existing relief and wants to see the administration reformed to a simpler process based on all donations received by a charity. It proposes that an appropriate tax reclaim rate should be agreed by consultation between Government and the sector to determine the amount of Gift Aid a charity can claim, based on its level of voluntary income as reported in its accounts. This would take into account the tax paying status of the cross-section of the general public who give to charity.
The sector umbrella bodies feel this would keep the principles of the existing Gift Aid system, but make the administration for charities less burdensome and bureaucratic.
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The bodies included are ACEVO, the Charity Finance Directors’ Group, Charity Tax Group, Church of England, the Institute of Fundraising (IoF) and the NCVO.
*Making Gift Aid work more effectively was cited as the single most important issue in last year’s IoF membership survey. As well as the changes called for above, the IoF has also recommended a number of other changes:
*Reform of Gift Aid for higher rate tax payers
*Simplification of Gift Aid in relation to Gifts in Kind
*Reversal of Corporate Gift Aid so charities rather than corporates benefit
*Development of a Gift Aid scheme to allow UK corporate sector to give unused goods and reclaim the rate of Gift Aid on the gifts’ value as a legitimate business expsnse
*Report of Gift Aid audits to make them simpler and more balanced
*Research into the potential for the creation of a central Gift Aid register
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.