Sayer Vincent updates Gift Aid guide to help charities with recent HMRC changes

Charity auditor and chartered accountant Sayer Vincent, has updated its free Gift Aid Made Simple guide that incorporates the new donor benefit limits and HMRC’s updated guidance on Gift Aid benefits. According to Sayer Vincent, HMRC research suggests that 25% of charitable donations that are eligible for Gift Aid are not Gift Aided. This is especially likely to be the case for donations to small charities. HMRC also estimates that £560m of gift aid goes unclaimed by the charity sector each year. The Gift Aid Made Simple guide is part of a series of 21 Sayer Vincent Made Simple guides, covering a wide variety of financial and management topics. Sayer Vincent is also running a half-day training event in London called ‘VAT & Gift Aid on Fundraising for charities’ on 3 November. The session will look at the practical aspects of managing the tax and VAT aspects of events and other fundraising methods such as membership schemes. The event is free for Sayer Vincent clients or £75 plus VAT for non-clients. Helen Elliott, Partner, Sayer Vincent said: “As well as raising awareness of the opportunities for claiming Gift Aid, we support charities in meeting the ever changing compliance requirements. Gift Aid is an important source of income for many charities and is now worth £1.27bn to the charity sector. “Most large and medium sized charities now take steps to make sure they claim Gift Aid on all eligible donations. The charities that tend to lose out are smaller charities with few or no paid staff. Our guide offers straightforward advice for all charities to make sure they benefit from Gift Aid. We also encourage clients and non-clients to attend our training event next month which will be a highly informative session with the chance to ask questions around handling HMRC Gift Aid audits.” Sayer Vincent has also produced a guide for the Charity Finance Group on the Retail Gift Aid Scheme (RGAS). By claiming Gift Aid shop proceeds can be increased in value by up to 25%, while the basic rate of Income Tax is 20%.  

from UK Fundraising https://ift.tt/31G0HlW