Effect of Budget on church giving

 

• All donations up to £5000 can be eligible for gift aid without forms being completed.
• Gift aid forms will be moved to being done ‘online’ in the future..

Helpful?

Details to follow from the budget report…

Charitable Giving:

1.137 The Government wants to encourage charitable giving and philanthropy and to support the voluntary sector.

1.138 Building on the 10 point action plan for philanthropy, the Government will encourage giving by the wealthiest by:

• reducing the rate of inheritance tax by 10% for those estates leaving 10% or more to charity, from a rate of 40per cent to 36 per cent. This will reduce the cost of giving to charity through bequests. The relief is designed to that the benefit of the tax saving is reflected in the bequests received by charities and not in payments to other beneficiaries;
• increasing the Gift Aid benefit limit from £500 – to £2500 from April 2011 to enable charities to give ‘thank you’ gifts to recognise the generosity of significant donors; and
• consulting on proposals to encourage donations of pre-eminent works of art or historical objects to the nation in return for a tax reduction.

1.139 Building on the Giving Green Paper, this budget will support the voluntary sector by:

• reducing bureaucracy for charities through the introduction of a new system of online filing which will bring Gift Aid into the 21st Century; and
• introducing a Gift Aid small donations scheme. This will allow charities to claim Gift Aid on up to £5,000 of small donations per year without the need for Gift Aid declarations.

1.140  The Government will also explore how to increase the take up of Payroll Giving, which allows individuals to five through their pay and reduce their income tax bills.