The Charity Tax Group has highlighted new research on Gift Aid commissioned by HMRC which has found that there is an opportunity to reduce Gift Aid claims among ineligible donors and increase Gift Aid claims among eligible donors by improving knowledge. Full details can be found here. The research found:
- 25% of the value of donations did not have Gift Aid added to them where the donor was eligible, contributing up to £560m to the value of unclaimed Gift Aid.
- 8% of the value of donations had Gift Aid incorrectly added to them by ineligible donors, generating a Gift Aid tax gap of up to £180m.
As a follow-up to the research, it has been suggested that there should be a sector wide Gift Aid awareness day on 4 October 2018. The Minister has also called on charities to be more open about the amount of Gift Aid that is claimed, to aid transparency and improve awareness of the value of the Scheme.