Devolved Scotland could lead a Gift Aid revolution, suggests report
Melanie May | 9 February 2017 | News
Scotland could create a Gift Aid scheme that would reduce its cost for both charities and HMRC, and increase take up, a report from nfpSynergy has suggested.
How could Gift Aid be improved and generate more income for charities by nfpSynergy‘s Joe Saxton looks at the main issues associated with the current Gift Aid scheme and sets out two possible solutions to improve it. It says that with income tax devolved to the Scottish Government, there is an opportunity for it to create a new scheme.
The report suggests four possible amendments the Scottish Government could make:
- Allow Gift Aid declarations to be made with an email address or mobile phone as the unique identifier to make online donations much easier
- Reclaim invalid claims from the charity – not the donor
- Include National Insurance as an eligible tax for Gift Aid
- Remove the restrictions on the GASDS
The report’s other suggestion is to give every adult a Gift Aid allowance, for example of £500, for which all donations are treated as tax effective, regardless of what tax an individual pays. This solution, it says, could encourage more people to give in the knowledge that Gift Aid would automatically be on their donations, and reduce bureaucracy because donations could then be assumed to be Gift Aid compliant.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.