Hundred SummersGift Aid calculator: what the charity gets and what it costs you
The 25p per £1 the charity reclaims, the higher- or additional-rate relief you claim back yourself, and the true net cost of the donation: on the same bands the rest of the engine uses. Your figures never leave your browser.
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Worked example
Computed when this page was built by the same engine that runs the calculator above, so the figures below and the live tool can never disagree. Change any input above to see your own.
| Inputs | |
|---|---|
| You give | £800 |
| Your taxable income | £60,000 (higher-rate taxpayer) |
| Results | |
|---|---|
| Charity reclaims from HMRC | £200 |
| Charity receives | £1,000 |
| You reclaim through self assessment | £200 |
| True cost to you | £600 |
| Effective relief | 40% |
The next question
Could giving bring me out of the 60% band? →60% tax trap calculator
Or answer it with everything else: the full Hundred Summers plan connects your pay, pensions, savings, property, tax and spending year by year, and stress-tests them across 500 simulated market histories.
Read the guide
- The 60% tax trap: earning between £100,000 and £125,140 →Why every pound between £100,000 and £125,140 is effectively taxed at 60% (62% with NI), how the personal allowance taper creates it, and why pension contributions in this zone get the best relief in the UK tax system.
Two reliefs, one declaration
Gift Aid treats your donation as made from taxed income at the basic rate, so the charity reclaims that tax, the “25p per £1”, and the gift is grossed up by 100/80. If you pay tax above 20%, the mechanism extends your basic-rate band by the gross gift, which is the same as relieving the excess rate: 20 points back for a higher-rate taxpayer, 25 for additional rate, and about 40 for donors in the £100,000–£125,140 zone because the gift also lowers adjusted net income and restores personal allowance. That second relief is yours to claim and is widely unclaimed.
The catch
The charity’s reclaim must be covered by tax you actually paid. Retirees inside the personal allowance, students and non-earners should not declare Gift Aid; a donating couple can put the declaration in the taxpayer’s name. The same band-extension logic drives the pension tax relief calculator, and gifts to charity in a will reduce inheritance tax: 10% of the estate to charity cuts the rate to 36%, which the inheritance tax calculator prices.
Sources
- HMRC, Tax relief when you donate to a charity: Gift Aid.
- HMRC, Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances; Scottish rates from gov.uk.