Gift Aid

By making a Gift Aid declaration you can help the Society with its charitable aims even more at no further cost to you

Thanks to the Gift Aid scheme the Royal Meteorological Society can reclaim the tax you pay on your membership fees* and/or donations at no extra cost to yourself. For every £1 you give we can claim an extra 25p in Gift Aid, this extra income is a very important part of our funding and really helps us to work harder on your behalf.

Making a Gift Aid declaration is the easiest way to support us, so if you are able to Gift Aid, please do so today. All it takes is ticking a box (either in your 'Online Application' or on 'My Dashboard') or filling in a short form. We can claim Gift Aid for any donations and membership fees made in the previous four years. To make a Gift Aid declaration you do have to be a UK taxpayer, paying sufficient Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax to cover the tax we can reclaim under Gift Aid. If you are a professional meteorologist and are eligible to claim a deduction for your professional subscription against your earned income your membership subscription cannot be classified as a donation.

Please remember to notify us of any change in your name or home address, or if you wish to cancel this declaration, or no longer pay sufficient tax on your income to enable Gift Aid to be claimed.

If you are unsure of your Gift Aid status or require further information about the Gift Aid scheme please look at the questions below. If you have any further queries please email membership@rmets.org or call 0118 956 8500. Thank you.

Resources

Questions about Gift Aid

Please look at the questions and answers below if you are unsure which box to tick in the Gift Aid declaration. If you require further information or clarification please email membership@rmets.org or call 0118 956 8500.

You are a taxpayer if income tax is deducted from your wages or salary, or if you pay tax through a self-assessment each year in the UK. If you do not pay income tax, you may pay tax on any UK savings accounts which should be shown on your statements. Alternatively you may have paid capital gains tax or be paying tax on a private pension in the UK. All these types of tax will qualify you for the Gift Aid scheme providing the total amount you pay is at least equal to what we claim within the financial year.

No. You can support as many charities as you like in this way providing the amount of tax you pay is enough to cover all the Gift Aid reclaimed on your behalf.

You may have already made a Gift Aid declaration with us on a membership joining or renewal form, however if you are unsure it is worth making an additional one and we can either update or change our records.

No, the fee must be paid by the tax payer

Even if we are not currently able to claim Gift Aid on your donations or membership fees it is worthwhile making a Gift Aid declaration. We can claim Gift Aid for the past four years so if you have paid tax during some periods you can make a declaration for these specific periods. Even if we are unable to claim Gift Aid on any of your donations or membership fees by making a declaration you will save us the time and expense of writing to you about Gift Aid in the future.

The Gift Aid scheme requires that the membership must be in the name of, and paid for by, the taxpayer for us to claim Gift Aid. If you hold individual membership this means that you must be a taxpayer and have made a declaration. If you hold a family membership and the taxpayer pays for the membership, or the membership is made from a joint account, then we can claim Gift Aid on your membership fees. We must however have a valid declaration on file for the taxpayer so please email us with your declaration today.

Yes we can claim Gift Aid on donations made from joint accounts if the donor is a taxpayer and we have a Gift Aid declaration on file.

Unfortunately gift membership payments are not eligible for Gift Aid so we cannot claim on these payments. However, if you have received a gift membership for this year but renew this yourself in future then the renewals may be Gift Aided as usual, and so it is worth making a declaration to cover these.

Yes, we can still claim Gift Aid on your donations and/or membership fees if you are a low rate taxpayer provided that the total amount of tax you have paid is as much as we will claim within the financial year.

As a pensioner not currently paying income tax you may still pay enough tax on either a UK private pension or a savings account to enable us to claim Gift Aid on your donations. You may also have paid capital gains tax in the UK.

We are only able to claim tax back at the standard rate. However you are able to claim back any extra tax from your charitable donations on your tax self assessment and donate this to us by specifying us to receive your repayment. 

No, you do not need to make a new declaration but you do need to let us know your new address, please email membership@rmets.org, or phone 0118 956 8500 with your new address details.

No, you do not need to make a new declaration but you do need to let us know of your new name so we can make a record of it in our database. Please email membership@rmets.org, or phone 0118 956 8500 with your new name details.

Yes, you should inform us if your tax status changes. Please do so by emailing membership@rmets.org

No, if you let us know the time period your tax status will be different for we can automatically change it back when that period ends. For more information email membership@rmets.org or call 0118 956 8500.

Yes you can make an oral declaration over the phone, you will then receive a confirmation letter of your declaration.

If you need to find out if we have claimed Gift Aid on your behalf we are happy to answer your questions. Please email membership@rmets.org or phone us on 0118 956 8500 and ask for the Membership Secretary. Online account users can check whether you have made a gift aid declaration at 'My Dashboard'.

No, Gift Aid declarations are not valid if a claim is made by an individual to offset the cost of the subscription against income for tax purposes..