Deal of the Day: Save tax and give to charity - Pennies from heaven

How much do you get paid?  For me it was 57p last month.  For you maybe 27p or 99p.  Of course there’s also probably three or four figures in front of that.  But for today’s deal forget about those.  It’s the pennies that matter.  
Today’s deal of the day is Pennies From Heaven, the enticing name of a new charity venture.  A clever scheme that collects the loose change from your net monthly pay, reclaims the tax and donates it to charity.
 This might not sound much but:-  
The average monthly salary will be £xxxx.50.
Over a year that’s 50p times 12=£6
22% tax can be reclaimed making £7.68.
Two hundred people in a firm would thus contribute roughly £1500.  
Barclays have already signed up for this.
If all their 60,000 employees sign up that’s just under half a million pounds.  

This does mean you must ask your employer to sign up and choose the charity. The bigger the firm the more efficient this becomes.  All it costs them is the time to alter their payroll software. And a small admin fee to pennies from heaven.  It’s done as a fee so all monies donated go straight to charity. 

There’s an even more important theme behind this scheme.

Donor Pyramid
There are very few Bill Gates types with philanthropic gifts of billions at the top. Quite a few more legacies left by the reasonably well off beneath. Next are regular tax-free payroll donations made by around 3 to 4% of employees.   The rest of us tend to give do this in an ad hoc way which isn’t very tax efficient.  The hope is Pennies from Heaven which makes giving for everyone easy and cheap will start people thinking about the best ways to give to charities.  Encouraging people to move up the pyramid.

This is easier as since April the charity tax system has become more generous. UK taxpayers can donate in two tax efficient ways.

Gift Aid: Charities can reclaim the 22% tax on any amount you give.  Pennies from heaven utilizes this.   All you do is give your name and address and declare you’re a taxpayer, which can be done over the phone.   For higher 40% rate taxpayers.  Not only can the charity reclaim money.  You can also claim back the remaining 18% yourself.  Although you might want to then donate this too.

Payroll giving or Give As You Earn:  Here you donate a regular amount straight off your firm’s payroll.  As well as charities reclaiming the tax, the government add extra money. For someone giving £20 monthly.  As this donation is made before tax is deducted, for basic rate taxpayers 22% or £4.40 of it is money you wouldn’t have received. For higher 40% taxpayers you wouldn’t have received £8 so it’ll only actually cost you £12.  And the government then adds another ten percent on your donation so the charity actually receive £22. 

Again your firms needs to sign up for this, but this is completely free and here you choose the charity. 

So today’s deal of the day is ask whether your firm has signed up and give up to 80% to charity without it costing you anything.  Contact http://www.cafonline.com/ for details or call 01732 520000.  And on top turn your pennies from heaven into pounds for charity check out www.penniesfromheaven.co.uk or call on 020 7464 4100