[SimonKoppel]

Hi all,

With the change in tax rates from 1st April, does anyone know what the situation is with special modified claims?

If we receive a donation and a sponsorship form after 1st April, but for an event which took place in March, can we claim on any gift-aidable donations at the higher rate? I guess the question boils down to, can we treat the date of the event as the donation date (after all, the sponsors presumably gave their donations on or around that date) or only when the charity (as opposed to the person being sponsored) actually receives the money? What if we receive a cheque on 1st April but it's dated earlier?

[paulmorriss]

I can hazard a guess, but you're probably best off going to HMRC. The way we tend to approach it is to say "we're going to treat it like this, let us know if you disagree". They tend to like to respond saying yes, rather than having to make a ruling which then has implications for others. It also covers you if they don't get around to replying.

[DavidZ]

Also the way RE works is that it looks at the gift date and then applies the appropriate level of gift aid tax level. The new tax level can be entered at any time as long as the date in config is from the 1st April (is it 1st April or the 4th April - I thought that was the actual start of the tax year?). That way it applies any gifts after this date on the lower tax band and any before this date on the higher tax band.

David

[SimonKoppel]

Thanks for your advice. This particular issue has just been made irrelevant, however, by the excellent news in the Budget that the Gift Aid rate is being frozen at 22% for the next three years.