Giving to charity through your Self Assessment tax return

If you complete a Self Assessment tax return and are entitled to a tax refund, you can choose to have all or part of the repayment sent directly to a charity of your choice - this is called ‘Self Assessment Giving’ or ‘SA Donate’.

You can also ask that the repayment is made as a Gift Aid donation. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) sends your refund (plus any Gift Aid tax repayment) directly to the charity by electronic transfer.

On this page:

Why use Self Assessment Giving?
Choosing a charity
How much can you give?
How to make your donation
Contacting the HMRC Charities Helpline
More useful links

Why use Self Assessment Giving?

Self Assessment Giving is an easy way to donate your tax refund to charity. When you’ve completed your tax return you also need to complete form SA100 Charity - Giving your tax repayment to charity. The charity receives your donation directly into its bank account.

You can also make the repayment a Gift Aid donation, meaning that the charity can claim back the basic rate tax, providing you’ve paid at least as much tax as the amount of the tax repayment the charity will claim - 25 pence for each pound donated. The Gift Aid refund is paid automatically by HMRC without the charity having to make a claim.

If you’re a higher rate taxpayer

If you’re a higher rate tax payer, you can claim additional Income Tax relief on any Gift Aid donations you’ve made during the tax year, as well as on any gifts of land or shares. If you want a charity to benefit from your tax relief (as well as from receiving your gift) you can use Self Assessment Giving to pass on the repayment to the charity of your choice.

Find out more about giving to charity using Gift Aid

Find out more about donating land, property or shares to charity

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Choosing a charity

To use Self Assessment Giving you need to enter a charity’s reference code in the space provided on the ‘Giving your tax repayment to charity’ form that comes with your tax return. You can use HMRC’s online ‘Charities Search’ tool to find a charity’s unique reference code, you can telephone the HMRC Charities Helpline (see ‘Contacting the HMRC Charities Helpline’ below), or you can ask the charity to tell you their reference code.

You can only choose one charity to give your repayment to each year. If your charity isn’t listed, HMRC will not be able to send your tax repayment to them - you’ll have to make a donation yourself once you’ve received your refund from HMRC.

Find a charity using the charities search tool

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How much can you give?

If you want to donate all of your refund to charity, HMRC will send you a calculation showing how much your tax repayment is and when it was sent to the charity.

If you don’t want to donate the whole amount you can set a maximum figure that you want to donate. This means that if your repayment turns out to be more than your maximum limit, the balance will be paid to you.

If your tax repayment is less than the amount you want to donate to charity, HMRC will only repay the charity the smaller of your actual repayment or the maximum amount you want to donate. This means that you will never be left with more tax to pay because of your donation to charity.

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How to make your donation

You can donate your tax repayment to charity by filling in form SA100. You’ll find the form in your tax return pack, or you can download it from the link below. You’ll be able to fill in the information online if you use HMRC’s Self Assessment Online service.

Go to form SA100 Charity - Giving your tax repayment to charity

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Contacting the HMRC Charities Helpline

For more help you can contact the Charities Helpline on Tel 0845 302 0203 (open from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday).

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