Many of us are domiciled in France, and pay our taxes in France, yet would still like to support our favourite UK charities, and may feel saddened that the UK Gift Aid scheme is not available on any donation we make to them.
However, far from all being lost, things may in fact be better. Under EU regulations, a registered charity in the UK, which is entitled to receive gift aided donations in the UK, is able to receive donations from anyone domiciled in France, and these may be tax deductable. When the donor declares these gifts on their ‘declaration des revenus’ each year, they can receive 60% tax relief on the donation. A simple example is that a donation of £100.00 would result in £60.00 tax relief to the donor and so actually only cost the donor £40.00.
The only catch is that the English charity would reasonably be expected to conform to the same standards as a similar French charity that merited such tax relief. As a simple rule of thumb, donations to charities that specialise in humanitarian work are much more likely to be accepted: at the other end of the scale, contributions to the preservation of an English cathedral would not. French accountants tend to be wary of such declarations, and a visit to your local office of the Direction Génerale des Finances Publiques will usually provide definitive advice on whether the UK charity qualifies or not. The receiving charity must complete a form CERFA 11580*03 - available on the internet - and return it to you: this is your official receipt. As it is all in French, of course, it may be easier for you to complete it for your chosen charity and ask them to sign it where required.
However if you want to benefit from this in this financial year donations must be made by 31 December 2013 and the tax declaration will be made in 2014. Too late to budget for this year? You will receive the tax relief for any year in which you make a donation.
Humanitarian work covers such diverse areas as medical research, human or animal welfare both in the UK or in the rest of the world.
