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My explanation of the revised Gift Aid scheme for tax recovery appears below. The Diocese has also produced a leaflet entitled Gift Aid - Tax effective giving to your Church and copies are available on the bookstall by the church door. Thanks to John Millard's prompt claim I have already received St George's tax rebate for the 1999/2000 tax year due under the previous covenanting system amounting to a magnificent £3922.82. This illustrates how important it is to claim our maximum entitlement from the Inland Revenue. If you have felt unable in the past to commit yourself to signing a covenant but give regularly via the envelope system or indeed irregularly via the collection plate and pay tax please let our Honorary Recorder John Millard know. For the sake of just filling in a very simple declaration form the church can recover, at current tax rates, 22p for every 78p that you give which is equivalent to 28p for every £1 donated and this applies not only to planned giving but to all 'one off' donations as well. The new scheme was applied to the recent St George's Day Gift Aid envelopes. Forty-nine have been returned so far containing £442.60 for general church funds of which £342 was given by taxpayers making the necessary declaration on the front of the envelopes. This will yield an extra £95.76 income by way of the tax paid on these donations which previously we would have been unable to reclaim. In future our intention is to claim the tax rebate quarterly to ease our cash flow situation. Looking at other financial details the sales of John Symonds' book about St George's have risen to £934, our Easter Day plate collections amounted to £66.75 and the Bishop's Lent Appeal envelopes and retiring collection totalled £295.44 of which £149 was allocated to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Youth options and the balance to Children in Distress. Gift Aid SchemeThe Government's new Gift Aid Scheme came into effect on 6th April 2000 and allows Churches and registered charities to reclaim tax paid on any donation made by a UK taxpayer. This means we can claim an additional 28p (at current rates) for every £1 you give including for instance the recent one off envelopes for the St George's Day gift. To be classed as a taxpayer you must have paid, or will have paid, sufficient tax to cover the tax we reclaim on your donations during each tax year. This amount of tax can be on income, investments, savings, building society accounts or on capital gains. You must of course keep a record of all Gift Aid donations you make in order to complete your own annual tax return (as you would in the past declare covenant details). All current bank standing orders and weekly envelope systems remain in force and you need do nothing except contribute in the usual way. In due course we will obtain a Gift Aid declaration to replace existing covenant documents as this means all donations from individuals are eligible for tax refunds not just the regular giving. Gift Aid declarations can be applied retrospectively from 6 April 2000. The requirements of the scheme are that we must have the donor's full name and address including post code, name of parish, declaration the donor is a taxpayer and wishes tax to be reclaimed on their donation given under the Gift Aid Scheme and the date the donation given or declaration made. This means income from such events as sponsored walks etc. can be increased by keeping appropriate records to enable tax to be reclaimed. The PCC will also have to consider envelopes for casual visitors, gifts in kind and expenses, other charitable giving, special appeals and collections with particular regard for restricted funds. It has been stated that if half the money currently given to the Church of England in a non tax efficient way was given under the Gift Aid Scheme after April 2000, the Church would recover an additional £20 million in tax in a full year. At St George's we certainly need all the money we can recoup from the tax man! Linda Wainwright, Hon Treasurer to the PCC |
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page last updated 29 MAY 2000 |
