Our Donations Team have managed to claim back over £5.5m in Gift Aid for Help for Heroes!
If you have any questions about completing a Gift Aid Declaration or Gift Aid in general, please do not hesitate to contact the donations team at donations@helpforheroes.org.uk.
Please note Gift Aid boxes are included on all our Help for Heroes Sponsorship forms.
What is Gift Aid?
The Gift Aid scheme, introduced by the Government in April 2000, is very simple. To make a Gift Aid declaration:
you must be a UK tax payer who pays more than the amount of UK tax in the tax year than the Gift Aid being claimed
you can only Gift Aid a personal donation i.e. your cannot Gift Aid cash collected from others; raised at an event; being paid across to pay for a challenge or ticket to an event; or to purchase merchandise.
the Donation must be made by an individual who is a UK tax payer:
not as a couple - you could however make one donation each to show your support, however you can only give Gift Aid consent if you each pay tax in the UK.
not on behalf of a group of people;
not as a result of a fund-raising event (collection, raffle, ball etc);
not by a company;
not if you are a participant in a sponsored event (including a Challenge) for which the charity has borne some or all of the cost, or if you are connected to the participant. A "connected person" is a wife or husband, a relative (brother, sister, ancestor (e.g. mother) or lineal descendant (e.g. grandson), the wife or husband of a relative or a company under the control of the participant or connected person.
Help for Heroes can reclaim the Basic Rate Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax paid on donations.
Note: If you are a higher rate tax payer you can claim the difference on your Self Assessment Tax Return.
Currently a charity can claim 25 pence in every pound. So for a donation of £10.00 the charity can claim 10 x 25p = £2.50 in additional funds from the government.
A Gift Aid form can be downloaded from our website. Please include your full name, address, signature and the date. Use of fun/nick names will invalidate your Gift Aid Declaration, as will the failure to include the first line and post code of your main address.
Alternatively, include the following statement in a covering letter which also includes your full name, address, signature and the date. Gift Aid Declaration: "I would like Help for Heroes to reclaim the tax on this donation. I have paid UK Income and/or Capital Gains Tax equal to the tax that will be reclaimed"
Don’t forget to ask your sponsors to tick the box on your sponsorship form!
For further help and advice on Gift Aid, you can contact the Inland Revenue Charity helpline on 0845 3020203 (option 3), which is open from 8.00am to 5.00pm, Monday to Friday or Email
