# Donating cars and Gift Aid

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/06/13/donating-cars-and-gift-aid/
- Published: 2012-06-13T16:50:15+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Giveacar, the innovative organisation that provides a service for disposing of cars
via auction or scrapping and donating the proceeds to charity, have launched a [petition to the government to allow Gift Aid on these donations](http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/30886).
Now whilst I commend and endorse any scheme which will promote and enhance Gift 
Aid – it is after all why I am in business – I am not sure that there is any change
required to the Gift Aid regulations to provide for this.

**One of the pillars of Gift Aid is that in order to qualify, a gift must be in 
cash**. Whilst there are a few exceptions – primarily land and listed shares – this
is essentially a historic situation, and HMRC would be reluctant to see any changes
to this. But this is not really necessary as there are mechanisms to cope with this
which are being implemented in operations such as charity shops and online auctions.

It would therefore not be too difficult for a similar scheme to be implemented with
the sale/auction of donated goods in the shape of cars, and there would be **no 
need for a change in the law** or any real modifications to the existing function
and procedure currently being employed.

## Advertisement

 [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)

The reality is that **all that is required is a rather basic paper trail that could
be inspected by HMRC** in the event that they wished to carry out an audit to ensure
that the rules and regulations are being complied with. In fact as more application
of this have been implemented and technology has developed and improved, it has 
become far easier to maintain this audit trail, with less paper work and more automated
tracking and recording.

## Benefit to the donor

Perhaps the most attractive aspect of introducing such an application without any
changes to the legislation is that there is a very real benefit to the donor in 
the shape of tax relief. As a commercial operation, [Giveacar](http://giveacar.co.uk)
take a fee from the proceeds of the sale to cover the costs of providing their services.
The donors, if a higher rate tax payer can claim tax relief of 25% of the value 
of their donation. Now whilst this does not quite equal to the fee charged by Giveacar
it allows the donor to dispose of their car, make a donation to charity, and get
a ‘bonus’ of tax relief through their tax return. Of course they could choose to
make a further donation, or simply regard this as a ‘reward’ from the Government
for supporting charity. Either way, it already exists and can be used as a tool 
for incentives the use of the Giveacar donation scheme.

## Utilise what is already there

I started out by saying that I would not recommend applying to the Government or
HMRC to change regulations. We have seen how the Government are in a complete spin
with all the U-turns on granny tax, pies, caravans and capping. Governments are 
notoriously slow to change and a petition that only closes on 7th March 2013 is 
likely to be a long time in changing anything. Far better to utilise what is already
there and acceptable than to try and introduce change or worse, new legislation.

So I would recommend that Giveacar focus on developing their operation to enable
their supporters not simply to donate the car, but rather the proceeds of the car,
and this way make their donation (and their old car) go just that little bit further.

_DISCLAIMER The information and opinions contained article are provided in general
terms only and GAIN and its employees take no responsibility for any actions you
make take based on the information contained herein. You are advised to take professional
advice before taking any action._

**Barry Gower is Managing Director of [GAIN](http://www.gain.me.uk) (Gift Aid Recovery
Consultants).**

 * **[Institute of Fundraising concerned Gift Aid legislation is too complex](https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/08/30/institute-fundraising-concerned-gift-aid-legislation-too-complex/)**(
   30 August 2012)
 * **[Prizeo fundraising platform combines celebrities, prizes and microdonations](https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/11/30/prizeo-fundraising-platform-combines-celebrities-prizes-and-microdonations/)**(
   30 November 2012)
 * **[Chancellor's Autumn Statement includes Gift Aid and digital giving](https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/12/05/chancellor039s-autumn-statement-includes-gift-aid-and-digital-giving/)**(
   5 December 2012)