Rethink on tax relief limit on charity giving

Chancellor George Osborne announced in the March 2012 budget that from April 2013 there would be a limit for charitable giving of £50,000 or 25% of income, whichever was the higher figure. He has now dropped these plans.

The thinking behind the original announcement was to stop higher rate tax payers reducing their tax liability by donating to charity, in some cases reducing their liability to zero. Although they were not benefitting financially critics said that it meant that they were choosing how money was being spent, unlike most tax payers whose cash goes to the government to fund things such as hospitals and schools.

Charities felt that this would reduce or in some cases stop donations and have therefore welcomed the rethink.
 

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