.png)
.png)
The Small Charitable Donations Bill was introduced to Parliament on 21 June, following consultation earlier this year.
It will legislate the gift aid small donations scheme, which was announced at Budget 2011, and will be implemented from 6 April 2013.
Under the scheme, eligible charities and community amateur sports clubs will be able to claim gift aid style top-up payments on up to £5,000 of small cash donations of up to £20 without requiring the donor to provide a gift aid declaration.
Organisations will have to have a three-year record of successfully claiming gift aid and continue to make gift aid claims to qualify.
HMRC will publish draft guidance for the scheme for consultation in the autumn.
The Charity Tax Group welcomed the proposed change from a 1:1 match with gift aid claimed to 2:1, explaining that the charity needs to have claimed 50% of the amount claimed under the scheme rather than the 100% originally planned.
The group was also pleased that the bill makes it clear that one charity is not to be regarded as connected with another charity unless the purposes and activities of the two charities are the same or substantially similar.
