Tax information

Capital Gains Tax and Income Tax Relief on donations of shares

Depending on your personal circumstances, giving shares to charity can be a very tax-efficient way to give.

If you are a UK taxpayer, you can claim income tax relief on the value of most listed stocks and securities when you donate them to a charity. In addition, donating shares charitably gives rise to neither a gain nor a loss for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) purposes. This means that you will not be liable for any Capital Gains Tax (CGT) which you might have had to pay had you decided to sell the shares instead. However, you should be aware that you cannot offset a loss against other gains if the shares you donate have gone down in value.

Evidence of your gift

You can claim the relief via your self-assessment form. You will need evidence of your donation of shares for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Make sure you keep a signed and dated copy of the transfer form, which we will send you to sign when we have received your share certificate. If your shares are held in a nominee account you should keep some other dated copy of your transfer instruction as evidence of your gift. You should also keep a note of the value of the shares on the date that you gave them to charity.

You can find the share price in the investor area of the company’s own website; share prices can also be found in the financial pages of a newspaper or its website, through a broker, in a share shop, on a specialised financial website or through a financial adviser. This information may be more difficult to find out at a later date.

Please note that ShareGift cannot give you financial advice about your individual circumstances or tax position. You may therefore wish to discuss the tax consequences of any donation of shares with your financial adviser or a qualified professional.

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Further tax information can be found on the HMRC website which gives detailed information about how to claim tax relief.

Gift Aid does not apply to donations of shares.