Gift Aid

What is Gift Aid?
Under the Inland Revenue's Gift Aid scheme, Alpha International is entitled to reclaim the basic rate of tax on gifts by UK taxpayers. This means that, if you are a UK taxpayer, your gift can increase by about 28% – at no extra cost to you.

For example:
• If you give £10
• Alpha International can recover £2.82 direct from the Inland Revenue
• Alpha International receives a total of £12.82

Who is eligible?
• You must be a UK taxpayer to give through Gift Aid.
• To qualify for Gift Aid, what you pay in income tax or capital gains tax must at least equal the amount we will claim in the tax year.
• If you do not pay tax, you should not use Gift Aid.

What do I do now?
If you are making your donation using our online donation system, simply check the box for Gift Aid. For other methods of giving, complete a Gift Aid Declaration form and return it to:

The Giving Administrator
Alpha International
c/o Holy Trinity Brompton
Brompton Road
London SW7 1JA

How does it work?
When Alpha International receives a donation from a UK taxpayer, we are entitled to claim back an amount of tax (calculated against the basic rate of income tax in that financial year) paid on that donation. Capital Gains Tax (for example, tax paid on savings, pensions or investments) is equally applicable as Income Tax.

Once you have given your permission for us to do this on your behalf (by filling in the Gift Aid form, or by ticking the Gift Aid box on our online donation system), there is no need for you to do anything else.

All that is required is that the amount of tax you pay in a given financial year is at least equal to the amount of tax reclaimed by Alpha International in that same year, even if this is paid in the form of lower-rate (10%) Income Tax. In addition, because this amount is calculated over the whole financial year, there is no requirement that tax is paid regularly – it is purely a question of how much has been paid in the tax year as a whole.

The amount of tax we will claim back will be around 28% of the total value of your donations in that financial year. Furthermore, if you are a higher taxpayer, you are also entitled to claim back the difference between the standard rate which we will claim and the amount of tax you have actually paid. For further details on how you can do this, please contact your tax office.

Further Information
If you have any queries or would like further information, please email donations@alphainternational.org.