Claiming higher rate tax relief for charitable donations made.

In your Self Assessment tax return, you normally only report things that occurred in the tax year in question.  But for charitable donations, you can also claim tax relief on donations you make in the following tax year up to the date you send your return.  So for example, donations made between 6 April 2018 and the filing of your 2018 tax return (up to 31 January 2019) can be carried back to tax year ending 5 April 2018.  This can be beneficial if either:

• want tax relief sooner
• will not pay higher rate tax in current year, but you did in the previous year

You cannot do this if:

• you miss the deadline (31 January if you file online)
• your donations do not qualify for Gift Aid
• your donations from both tax years together must not be more than 4 times what you paid in tax in the previous year

If you do not have to send a tax return, you can still claim tax relief for charitable donations using P810 form. You’ll need to submit it by 31 January after the end of the previous tax year.

As with all of our tax tips and web pages this information is necessarily summarised and of a general nature.  If you would like detailed specific advice please contact us.