Sir, – Michael McLoughlin, in a letter (July 6th) which references the launch of the Forum on Philanthropy and Fundraising, made an eminently sensible suggestion that the regulations governing charitable donations be simplified in line with the Gift Aid model in the UK. In point of fact, the Report of the Forum on Philanthropy and Fundraising did recommend simplification and work on this is already under way. The Minister for Finance announced recently that, “Officials from my Department, the Revenue Commissioners and the Irish Charities Tax Reform Group [ICTR] have been working together on possible options to simplify the relief scheme and thus reduce the administrative burden on charities and the Revenue Commissioners of operating the scheme. Simplification of the scheme is also one of the recommendations of the Forum on Philanthropy and Fundraising. Having considered the proposals made to me by the working group and the forum, I have decided to signal my intention to introduce changes to the tax relief scheme from next year.”
A Department of Finance consultation process on proposed amendments to the donations scheme closed at the end of May, and the working group is now focused on developing practical proposals to reduce the administrative burden on both charities and the Revenue Commissioners under the revised scheme. We have met the UK revenue authorities and studied the UK Gift Aid model in detail as part of the process, and while not everything is directly transferable, the final proposals to the Minister will reflect what can be adapted to the Irish scheme. Our objective is to remove as much of the form-filling as possible under the revised scheme. – Yours, etc,