Irish charities unite to promote tax-effective giving
Howard Lake | 23 April 2013 | News
A consortium of 26 Irish charities has launched the Good Form campaign to persuade more donors to give tax effectively, and thereby increase the value of donation to charities at no extra cost to themselves.
An initiative of the Irish Charities Tax Reform Group (ICTR), The Good Form campaign explains to donors that they simply have to add their signature to the form, available from all eligible Irisih charities, for that charity to be able to claim tax relief on their donations.
Eligible donations
The Good Form can be used by any Irish donor who has donated €250 or more in a year to any charity or approved body registered for the scheme with Revenue. This covers not just Irish charities, but any in the EU or EFTA.
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The form covers no-strings-attached donations: it does cover sponsorship, raffles, and similar payments in which the donor stands to gain a benefit.
It is retrospective and can be claimed for up to four years prior to current year.
Forms are pre-populated with the donor's details by the charity in order to simplify and speed up the process for the donor, and to reduce errors. They need to be posted back to the Revenue because it requires an original signature on the document.
There is no limit to the number of eligible charities that can benefit from a taxpaying donor: the tax rebate is limited only by the amount of income tax the donor pays.
Not new scheme
The Good Form is not a new Revenue scheme in itself. It is a rebranding of tax form CHY 2 by participating charities with the aim of boosting its use by making it more donor-friendly.
Speaking at the campaign's launch, economist David McWilliams said, “This is an enterprising scheme that could potentially boost any one of the charity’s income by thousands of euro.”
Sheila Nordon, Executive Director of ICTR, explained: “Currently, the Revenue’s Scheme of Tax Relief for Donations to Charities and Approved Bodies raises approximately €30 million per year for 2,150 eligible charities and other approved causes such as schools, colleges and arts bodies.”
The ICTR estimates that there are a further 50,000 Irish donors who could use the form to pass the tax on their donations to benefit their charity of choice, with a combined value of up to €15m.
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.