Gift Aid is a way of allowing a charity to claim tax relief on gifts made by UK taxpayers, and is very simple. 

How it works

• The underlying principle is that charities (i.e. Myasthenia Gravis Association) are able to reclaim Basic Rate tax (currently at 20%) on any donation that is eligible for Gift Aid - this increases the final value of the donation by one quarter, e.g. a Gift Aid donation of £100 is actually worth £125 to the charity.

• If the donor pays Higher Rate Tax (currently 40%), they are eligible to make a reclaim in their self-assessment tax return of 20% of the final donation value, e.g. on a donation of £100, worth £125 to the Charity, a Higher Rate taxpayer can receive a rebate of £25, so the donation will only eventually cost them £75.

• To enable this tax relief to occur, the donor must make a Gift Aid Declaration, which can be done on paper, by e-mail, over the web, or verbally.

• The donor must have paid enough income or capital gains tax in the year to cover all the tax reclaimed by charities to whom they make Gift Aid gifts, and must not receive benefits - apart from very minor ones - in return.

• Gift Aid was introduced in April 2000 and can be backdated five years. The declaration we ask our benefactors to make covers all donations they make to the University until they tell us we should no longer reclaim any tax.

• Please notify us if you change your name and/or address while the declaration is in force.

• Please notify us if you no longer pay enough income or capital gains tax in the year to cover all the tax reclaimed by charities, to whom you make Gift Aid gifts, while the declaration is in force.