The Cathedral, along with most other churches, participates in the Gift Aid scheme which enables parishioners to make more out of their donations, by allowing us to reclaim the tax they have paid. If you are considering gift aiding your donations to the Cathedral you might have some questions, and we hope that we can answer those below.
What is Gift Aid? Gift Aid is a scheme that allows charities to reclaim tax on a donation made by a UK taxpayer, which means your donations will be worth 25% more to us. If you Gift Aid your donations we can claim back from the government 25p for every £1 you donate to the Cathedral.
Does it cost me anything to do Gift Aid? No, there is no cost to you. The 25% we are able to claim comes out of the amount of money you pay to the government (HMRC) in tax through the year, so as long as you pay enough tax each year you don't pay anything to Gift Aid you donations.
What do you need to claim the gift aid on my donations?
Your full name and home address
A donation made from a personal bank or building society account
We can't claim Gift Aid on donations from company accounts. The donation must be your own money and not the proceeds of a collection.
For you to be paying income tax or capital gains tax which at least equals the amount the Cathedral and other charities and community amateur sports clubs will claim in the appropriate tax year (6 April one year to 5 April the next). This is currently 25p for every £1 you give.
Using the declaration form, we can claim Gift Aid on all your donations in the last 4 years and all future donations.
Once you have become a Gift Aid donor, please let us know if you stop paying tax or if you change your name/address so that we can update our records.
What if I am a higher rate tax payer? If you are a higher-rate tax payer you can also claim additional tax relief. For higher rate tax payers (paying tax at 40%) this works out as 25p for every £1 you donate and for the highest rate tax payers (paying tax at 45%) this works out as 31p for every £1 you donate.
How do I make my donations if I am using Gift Aid? You can make your donations by either weekly envelope giving or by standing order, in the normal way. To reclaim the gift aid all that we need is your permission to reclaim it.
I'd like to sign up to use gift aid, how do I do that? Simply contact the parish office on 01752 662537, email us, or speak to Fr Mark or Deacon James and they will point you in the right direction.