I also don’t feel comfortable claiming this as a Gift Aid eligible ‘donation’
I can’t remember the wording on the registration page, but I think it was phrased around purchasing a ticket, rather than making a donation
And as you said, there wasn’t any mention of Gift Aid declarations (regardless of whether CEA was going to do anything with that)
Even the confirmation email I got said ‘Date of purchase’ (rather than ‘Date of donation’ or similar)
While it is true that you could have gotten a free ticket meaning that there was no extra benefit in paying (pointed out by domdomegg here)
I’m not sure how it works given that there was an application process and your application could be rejected
More importantly, HMRC seem to be wise to the idea of treating all ticket purchases as donations, in 3.43.6 here it states:
A charity can charge what it likes for a ticket to attend its event. However, it should not put the charity’s funds at risk and, therefore, should set the ticket price at a level to at least recover its costs.
And I’m pretty sure the wording on the registration page was something like “£400 lets us recoup the cost from running the event” or similar.
So I don’t think HMRC would see these payments as ‘monies received as fundraising during an event that the charity put on’ rather than ‘ticket price for an event’ (which is not an eligible donation)
We’re happy to provide as much info as we can here but I just want to make clear that, ultimately, it’s your call about whether you claim tax relief on this donation.
We do think we haven’t been sufficiently clear about how donations to EA Global work and we’ll be revisiting this language in due course to make things clearer. Addressing a few other points:
Our payment platform is set up to receive payments, and to generate receipts. A purchase receipt does not change the fact that this was a donation to a charity.
Re: whether tickets recoup costs: EA Global conferences cost >£1k per person per event (though that’s coming down) so the suggested donation amount wouldn’t cover the costs of one attendee. Our goal isn’t to maximise donations and break even, so while we’re very grateful for all donations, we want to ensure the event is accessible to a wide range of people.
Re: HMRC rules: As above, our goal isn’t to cover our costs through ticket sales—and we view giving free tickets as part of our wider charitable purposes—so this part of the HMRC guidance doesn’t apply to us.
RE: applications: Filtering all applications and then only inviting selected people to register for a free event is allowed within HMRC rules—provided the event is open to a sufficiently wide section of the public, it is fine to require attendees to meet some standards (e.g. demonstrating a genuine interest in the topics at the conference, before they are accepted and then invited to donate). CEA only asks people to make a donation once they have been accepted to attend the event.
I also don’t feel comfortable claiming this as a Gift Aid eligible ‘donation’
I can’t remember the wording on the registration page, but I think it was phrased around purchasing a ticket, rather than making a donation
And as you said, there wasn’t any mention of Gift Aid declarations (regardless of whether CEA was going to do anything with that)
Even the confirmation email I got said ‘Date of purchase’ (rather than ‘Date of donation’ or similar)
While it is true that you could have gotten a free ticket meaning that there was no extra benefit in paying (pointed out by domdomegg here)
I’m not sure how it works given that there was an application process and your application could be rejected
More importantly, HMRC seem to be wise to the idea of treating all ticket purchases as donations, in 3.43.6 here it states:
And I’m pretty sure the wording on the registration page was something like “£400 lets us recoup the cost from running the event” or similar.
So I don’t think HMRC would see these payments as ‘monies received as fundraising during an event that the charity put on’ rather than ‘ticket price for an event’ (which is not an eligible donation)
Thanks for your comment, Rasool.
We’re happy to provide as much info as we can here but I just want to make clear that, ultimately, it’s your call about whether you claim tax relief on this donation.
We do think we haven’t been sufficiently clear about how donations to EA Global work and we’ll be revisiting this language in due course to make things clearer. Addressing a few other points:
Our payment platform is set up to receive payments, and to generate receipts. A purchase receipt does not change the fact that this was a donation to a charity.
Re: whether tickets recoup costs: EA Global conferences cost >£1k per person per event (though that’s coming down) so the suggested donation amount wouldn’t cover the costs of one attendee. Our goal isn’t to maximise donations and break even, so while we’re very grateful for all donations, we want to ensure the event is accessible to a wide range of people.
Re: HMRC rules: As above, our goal isn’t to cover our costs through ticket sales—and we view giving free tickets as part of our wider charitable purposes—so this part of the HMRC guidance doesn’t apply to us.
RE: applications: Filtering all applications and then only inviting selected people to register for a free event is allowed within HMRC rules—provided the event is open to a sufficiently wide section of the public, it is fine to require attendees to meet some standards (e.g. demonstrating a genuine interest in the topics at the conference, before they are accepted and then invited to donate). CEA only asks people to make a donation once they have been accepted to attend the event.
Again, thanks so much for your comments here.