How do I claim the relief?

You should claim the tax relief by completing the appropriate section of your self assessment form, which can be found on the HM Revenue and Customs website. You may be liable to request a reduction in your self assessment payment, so please check the criteria before submitting your gift.

If you are not sent a tax return or you want to claim relief before the end of the tax year, you should contact your local tax office for advice. You must discuss all arrangements carefully with a solicitor or financial advisor before proceeding with the sale.

If you pay tax through PAYE (employees and occupational pensioners) write to your tax office and ask for an amendment to your tax code for the current year.

The effect of disposal on share value

In our experience some of our donors who are company directors have been concerned about the effect that an immediate sale of a significant number of their shares by The Children's Society would have on the share value.

We have two ways of dealing with this problem:

1. The first way is for you to give the shares to us in a controlled manner over a number of years. This may be advisable for personal tax reasons as well, because you need to ensure that you have enough taxable income in the year that you make the donation to offset against the market value of your gift.
2. The second way is for you to send us the share certificate in the name of The Children's Society and attach a letter with conditions as to when we can sell the shares. We will then simply hold onto them until the date that you specify.

Alternatively, if you are unsure as to the value of your shares, you may want to consider sending them to Sharegift. This is a charitable organisation specialising in accepting small numbers of shares with low values, which would normally mean that they would not be economic to be sold. They aggregate the shares and then sell them distributing the funds to charity.

Further information

For further information or assistance, please contact our partnership funding team on 020 7841 4498 or development@childsoc.org.uk. Alternatively you can write to us at:

The Children's Society
Edward Rudolf House
Margery Street
London
WC1X 0JL

You can contact Sharegift directly at:

Sharegift
17 Carlton House Terrace
London
SW1Y 5AH

Telephone: 020 7930 3737
www.sharegift.org.uk

Please remember, it is your responsibility to claim the tax relief and to keep a copy of the transfer form or letters relating to the donation in order to make the claim.