Giving your Self Assessment (SA) tax refund directly to charity SA Donate

How SA Donate works

If you complete a Self Assessment Return and are entitled to a repayment you can choose to have all or part of it sent directly to a charity of your choice. You can also ask that the repayment is made as a Gift Aid donation. HMRC will send your refund (plus any Gift Aid repayment where applicable) directly to your charity by electronic transfer.

In order to use SA Donate you need to enter a unique reference code for your charity in the space provided on your SA Return. You can use Charities Search to find this reference or you can telephone the HMRC Charities helpline for details on 0845 302 0203 Monday to Friday 8 am to 6 pm.

Advantages for you

• Once you have completed your SA Return you don’t need to do anything else.
• If you complete a full SA Return you can choose to make your donation including the Gift Aid element anonymously. The anonymity option is not available if you complete a short SA Return.

Advantages for the charity

• The charity receives your donation directly into its bank account.
• If you chose to Gift Aid the donation the Gift Aid refund is paid automatically without the charity having to make a claim.

Using SA Donate to pass on your own tax relief to charity

Higher rate tax relief on Gift Aid donations and all of the tax relief for gifts of qualifying investments to charity is given to you, the donor. If you want a charity to benefit from your tax relief (as well as from receiving your gift) you may be able to use SA Donate to pass it on to the charity of your choice.

If you have paid the correct amount of tax (for a tax year that you make a gift of land or shares to a charity), when you claim the income tax relief or make a claim for higher rate relief for Gift Aid donations, a repayment may be generated. You can nominate your chosen charity to receive that repayment through SA Donate.