GIVING SHARES TO ACTION MEDICAL RESEARCH

By making a gift of shares or share dividends to Action Medical Research you can make a substantial tax saving - it has never before been so tax efficient to make a charitable gift.

Income Tax Relief
The relief from Income Tax is available for the full market value of the shares on the date of disposal. In other words, you will not pay Income Tax on the equivalent amount of your annual income in the tax year that the gift is made.

For example, if you are a higher rate taxpayer and made a gift of £1,000 worth of shares to a Action Medical Research you would receive Income Tax relief of 40% of the full value, ie. £400. This effectively means the donation has cost only £600.  Or, if you pay tax at the standard rate, the relief would be £220. You can claim this on your self-assessment tax form, or by contacting your local tax office.

Capital Gains Tax relief
Normally, if you sell shares for more than what they were valued at when you acquired them, this is known as making a Capital Gain. You can make Gains up to an annual limit without having to pay tax on this money, but anything above that will be subjected to Capital Gains Tax (40%). When donating shares to Action Medical Research there is full relief from Capital Gains tax, meaning that in our hands the gift is worth more than if you had sold the shares yourself. The extent of the difference depends on how much Capital Gains Tax you would have paid.

What will Action Medical Research do with my shares?
It is Action Medical Research’s policy that, when it receives gifts of shares, they are sold as soon as is practicable. This is because if we held on to them their value might change and we believe that we should not speculate with gifts entrusted to Action Medical Research, but use them as soon as possible.

What you could do with a smallholding of shares
The administration involved in Action Medical Research transferring and selling a smallholding of shares may outweigh the financial return. However, if your shares are worth under £100, you can dispose of them charitably by donating them to the specialist charity ShareGift (registered charity 1052686).

ShareGift has been set up especially to accept donations of small amounts of shares that cannot otherwise be sold. They collect donated shares until they have enough to sell and use the funds released by their work to support a wide range of UK charities, including Action Medical Research. For more information about ShareGift please visit www.sharegift.org

If you have any queries about your tax position
If you need advice on personal tax issues we recommend that you speak to a financial advisor or contact the Inland Revenue helpline on 0845 900 0444, or visit their website www.hmrc.gov.uk

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