Gift Aid

When you make a Gift Aid declaration, you give Shelter the authority to reclaim tax from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on your gift to us. All donations made in the last 4 tax years (excluding those made through the Charities Aid Foundation) are eligible for the scheme, including regular gifts such as standing orders and direct debits.

You do not have to make a Gift Aid declaration with every gift. Tick the box on the declaration once and it will cover gifts you've already made to Shelter Scotland in the last 4 tax years and gifts you make in the future.

You can support as many UK charities as you like through Gift Aid. All you need to do is return a declaration to each charity that you support and make sure that you pay enough tax during the year to cover your total annual donations.

Completing a Gift Aid declaration does not put you under any obligation to give again; it just means we can reclaim tax on the donations that you've already made and any you may make in the future, so that your gifts go further at no extra cost to you.

Donations made by UK taxpayers are usually eligible. You're a UK taxpayer if you:

• pay income tax on your wage or pension before you receive them

• have recently paid capital gains tax, for example on the sale of a property or some shares

Most regular and single personal donations are eligible for Gift Aid, for example direct debits, standing orders, cheques, cash and text giving.

If you paid tax in a previous year but not this year (or vice versa), please call our Supporter Helpdesk on 0300 330 1234. We'll record details of this change.

Donations that are not eligible for Gift Aid include:

• Charities Aid Foundation account or similar agency donations, as the tax has already been reclaimed for you

• payroll giving donations

• company donations

• trust donations

Charities can only claim back tax at the basic rate – that's still worth 25% to Shelter Scotland, so please complete and return the declaration.

As a higher-rate taxpayer you have the right to reclaim tax on your charitable donations. To do this, include details of your charitable gifts on your self-assessment tax form to claim your additional personal tax relief (this being the difference between the basic rate of 20% and your higher rate). If you do not submit self-assessment tax returns, you can also ask HMRC to adjust your tax code.

Email us at info@shelter.org.uk if you need a receipt for donations by standing order or direct debit.

If you donate goods to our stores and need an End of Year statement, please email us at retailgiftaid@shelter.org.uk. If you have donated in another way, please speak to the person who handles your transaction at the point of donation.

Call our Supporter Helpdesk on 0300 330 1234 if you paid tax in a previous year but not this year (or vice versa). We'll record details of this change.

Shelter Scotland is unable to offer tax advice – find the latest tax information on HMRC’s website.

If you're in receipt of a pension, you may still be paying tax and can complete a Gift Aid declaration.

For example, you could be paying tax on:

• private pensions

• savings accounts (Income Tax)

• profits from selling a property or shares (Capital Gains Tax)

Your gifts are also eligible for Gift Aid if you are not a taxpayer but your partner is and you donate jointly. Call our supporter helpdesk on 0300 330 1234 and we'll record your personal details separately for our records.

Events

For organised events, please contact events@shelter.org.uk who may be able to supply sponsorship forms or payment envelopes. Sponsors can record their details on the forms to enable us to claim Gift Aid on their donations.

Collections

If you're organising a collection for Shelter Scotland, each donor must complete a Gift Aid declaration for the collection to be eligible for Gift Aid.

For more information, contact our supporter helpdesk on 0300 330 1234 or email info@shelter.org.uk.

In Memory giving

If you’re collecting in memory of someone, find out more information about in memory giving, or contact us at inmemory@shelter.org.uk for payment envelopes.

If you had a covenant in existence on 5 April 2000, you can continue to make the payments due under that deed of covenant until it expires, without having to complete a Gift Aid declaration.

However, due to the age of such covenants, we would advise you to re-confirm your agreement to the scheme by completing a new Gift Aid declaration.

If you make additional gifts or change the value of your gift under the original covenant, you must complete a new Gift Aid declaration to cover those gifts if you want us to be able to recover the tax on them.

You could decide that your gift should not be included in Gift Aid – for example, if you think that you will not pay enough tax to cover the tax reclaimed by us.

Contact us at retailgiftaid@shelter.org.uk to change your Gift Aid declaration for retail donations.

Contact us at info@shelter.org.uk to change your Gift Aid declaration for single or regular donations made directly to us or made through other platforms such as GoFundMe or Facebook.

The basic rate of tax is calculated on the gross amount of your donation. This means we can reclaim 20% of the amount you earned before tax was deducted, which works out to be 25% of the amount that we receive. To find out the exact amount of tax that Shelter Scotland can reclaim, multiply the amount of your donation by 20 and then divide it by 80.

In Scotland, if you pay the starter rate of tax at 19%, for Gift Aid purposes you'll still be treated as though you pay the basic rate at 20%. You can still Gift Aid as long as you’ve paid enough tax to cover the Gift Aid being reclaimed.

If you have any further questions about Gift Aid, please contact the Shelter Scotland Supporter Helpdesk on 0300 330 1234 or email us at info@shelter.org.uk.