Share Donor

Help people with epilepsy by donating shares directly to Epilepsy Action

Do you have an unwanted shareholding or are you looking for a way to donate while reducing your tax bill? Starting from September 2010, Epilepsy Action will be able to accept share donations directly from our supporters. Although we would be delighted to accept overseas share donations from non-UK residents, please note that the following information is applicable only to UK share donations and related issues.  

Why?

Making a charitable donation of shares to Epilepsy Action can be a highly tax effective way for you to help people with epilepsy. When a charitable gift of shares is made this can be done at a significantly lower cost to yourself because of the generous tax relief which is available.

Tax benefits?

• Income Tax
  When you donate shares to Epilepsy Action you can get Income Tax relief on the donation. If you are a 40 per cent taxpayer, for instance, and donate £1,000 worth of shares, you will get a £400 tax relief. Or, if you pay tax at 20 per cent, the relief would be £200. You can claim this on your self-assessment tax form, or by contacting your local Tax Office. This £1,000 donation would then effectively cost you £600 or £800.
• Capital Gains Tax
  Ordinarily, when you sell shares for more than the price you bought them for, this is known as making a capital gain. You can make gains up to an annual limit. The allowance for the tax year 2010/11 is £10,100 without having to pay tax on this money, but anything above that will be subject to Capital Gains Tax (18 to 28 per cent). However, you will not have to pay any Capital Gains Tax on shares which you donate to Epilepsy Action. This exemption may therefore be important to you if you have reached, or are likely to reach, the annual allowance limit.

How do you donate shares?

• Share certificates
  We will provide you with the appropriate ‘Stock Transfer Form’. According to your express instructions we will complete this form beforehand, so that the document can simply be approved and then signed by you. The Certificate and Stock Transfer Form will then be sent for our attention at Epilepsy Action. We transfer the stock into Epilepsy Action’s name and then sell the stock as soon as is practicable in the market. Then your donation can be used to benefit people with epilepsy right away.
• Electronic share holdings
  If your shares are held in electronic form, please inform us of the stock which you would like to donate, and where this stock is held. We will then inform you of where to instruct your stockbroker to transfer the shares. Again, this process is made very simple for you.

I only have a few shares?

The administration involved in Epilepsy Action transferring and selling a small holding of shares may outweigh the financial return. Please contact us to check whether this is the case or not. We can discuss alternative arrangements if the holding is thought to be too small.

Tax Advice

As a charity, we are naturally unable to advise on personal tax issues and recommend that you contact a financial advisor or the Inland Revenue helpline on 0151 472 6043/6046 or 0131 777 4040 in Scotland.

Further information

If you would like to donate a shareholding or discuss any of the above matters, please contact:

• Alex Whittaker
  Epilepsy Action
  New Anstey House
  Gate Way Drive
  Yeadon
  Leeds
  LS19 7XY
  Tel. +44 (0)113 2108832
  awhittaker@epilepsy.org.uk

Glossary

Income Tax
A compulsory tax on employment (for example, salary) and investment (for example, interest) income. For the 2010/11 tax year, Income Tax is charged at between 10 per cent and 50 per cent.

Capital Gains Tax
A capital gain is made when an asset is sold or disposed of that has increased in value since it was acquired. For the 2010/2011 tax year, Capital Gains Tax is charged at 28 per cent for higher and additional rate payers and 18 per cent for others.

Annual allowance
This is a concession by the government which can be used to reduce a person’s taxable income. 

Tax relief
The amount that can be deducted from a person’s annual income to reduce the amount on which tax is paid.

Share certificate
A paper certificate which designates ownership of shares in a company.

Stock Transfer Form
This is the form that the donor or seller of shares signs when transferring a holding to a new owner, who also signs.

Electronic ‘nominee’ share holding
In the stock market, the most common use of nominee accounts is where stock brokers act as nominees for their clients. The shares are registered electronically in the name of the broker, but the client has beneficial ownership of them.