Charity donations

[JRCT]

I have a few £5 monthly donations that go out of my personal account and have done for years to the likes of RSPB, Wateraid etc, etc.

Although they're only £5 each, they add up to a reasonable amount and I'd like to do more. I was thinking of transferring them all to my business account so I could get the tax relief from them. It was one of these ideas that seemed a no-brainer when I first considered it, but now I'm actually about to do it, I'm suddenly not sure if it's worth the bother.

Also, a few of them are memberships, ie. A Family Wildlife Trust Membership at £6 per month.

So, is this something that anyone else has done, and is worth doing?

Does the membership bit make it more complicated (I'm my only employee so it's not like anyone else is not getting this) and would I have to buy a corporate membership for these ones?

[TheFaQQer]

Larger donations, I've done via the company directly.

For regular payments or smaller donations, I do it myself and gift aid it. If you keep a record then you can put that on your tax return and you get some tax relief on it as well.

[d000hg]

Why make them through the company? You get tax relief on personal donations of (IIRC) 125% of the amount given anyway. e.g. if you give £100, your personal tax allowance increases £125.

[northernladuk]

Plenty of discussions about Charity in the past...

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ch...sm=93&ie=UTF-8

[Craig at Nixon Williams]

It is slightly more tax efficient to make charity donations personally as your basic rate band will be increased by the donation. If you are making large donations and the gift aid amount would exceed the tax paid (or tax credit) on your dividends then it would then be better to make them through the company.

The likes of your membership to Family Wildlife Trust should definitely be kept personal.