What Gift Aid is

Gift Aid is a UK tax relief. It lets a charity reclaim the basic-rate income tax you have already paid on a gift. For the Diocese of Shrewsbury, registered charity number 234025, that means an extra 25p on every £1 you give. A £20 monthly standing order becomes £25 in the diocese's hands. A £500 one-off gift becomes £625. The uplift comes from HMRC and costs you nothing, and over a lifetime of giving it adds up to a great deal.

Who qualifies

To Gift Aid your donation you need to be a UK taxpayer, and the income tax or capital gains tax you pay in the year has to be at least as much as the basic-rate tax the diocese will reclaim on all your charitable gifts that year. Most Catholics on PAYE meet this test easily, and pensioners with taxable income from a workplace or private pension usually do too. If you are not sure, the Planned Giving Office can talk it through with you.

You do not qualify if your only income is non-taxable, such as some state benefits, or if you live and pay tax abroad. If your circumstances change you can cancel a declaration at any time by writing to the diocese.

What counts and what does not

Gift Aid can be claimed on these:

• One-off and regular gifts of your own money, by standing order, card, cheque or online.
• Weekly offertory giving through a named, numbered envelope.
• Gifts to a named diocesan fund or appeal where you complete a declaration.

It cannot be claimed on these:

• Loose cash in the collection with no named donor, though the Small Donations Scheme below may still apply.
• Money that is not your own, such as the proceeds of a parish raffle or a collection you have gathered from others.
• Gifts in return for something of value, such as tickets, where part of the payment buys a benefit.
• Gifts of shares or property, which carry their own separate tax reliefs.

The declaration form

Gift Aid runs on a single sheet of paper. The declaration states your name, your home address, and that you want the charity to reclaim tax on your gift. One declaration can cover every gift you have made in the past four years, and every gift you make from now on, for as long as it stands. You fill it in once and leave it on file.

To set one up, tick the Gift Aid box when you give online, or ask the Planned Giving Office for a paper form using the contact listed below. Your parish can also give you a form.

If your circumstances change

Tell the diocese if you stop paying enough UK tax, if you change your name or home address, or if you want to cancel the declaration. HMRC needs your current address on file, and if you no longer pay enough tax the diocese must stop claiming so it does not over-claim on your behalf. A short email does all of this.

Higher-rate taxpayers

If you pay tax above the basic rate you can claim back the difference between your rate and the basic rate on your donations, through your Self Assessment return. The diocese still receives the full Gift Aid claim. You can then give that difference on if you wish.

The Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme

Not every gift comes with a declaration. People drop coins in the basket, tap a contactless terminal, or light a candle. The Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme exists for these. Under it the diocese can claim a top-up much like Gift Aid on small cash and contactless gifts of up to £30 each, with no declaration needed from each giver. Most parishes run a useful small-donations claim alongside their main Gift Aid claim.

Setting up Gift Aid this week

If you give regularly and have not yet completed a declaration, this is the single most valuable thing you can do for the diocese this year. The contact for this is listed below. It takes five minutes, and from then on every gift you make is worth a quarter more.