UK charity tax relief statistics commentary
Updated 1 July 2026
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Summary
For the tax year to April 2026, tax reliefs for charities and their donors, where an estimate is available, were around £7.4 billion, up 4% year-on-year.
Estimates for some of the largest tax reliefs are:
- £2.87 billion relief of non-domestic rates (business rates, down 1% on the previous tax year)
- £1.88 billion in Gift Aid paid to charities at the basic rate of Income Tax (up 10% on the previous tax year)
- £1.28 billion Inheritance Tax reliefs for donations (up 6% on the previous year)
- £920 million Higher Rate Relief — relief at higher rates of tax on individuals’ Gift Aided donations (up 10% on the previous tax year)
Just under half the value of Gift Aid payments went to charities that received less than £1 million each. For more information about Gift Aid, please see the section on Table 2 below.
1.3 million people declared a donation on their Self Assessment return for tax year ending April 2025, about 2% fewer than the previous year. However, the value of their declarations of all types of donations rose by 12%. For more information about donations declared via Self Assessment, see the section on Tables 3, 4 and 5 below.
About this release
Frequency: Annual
Coverage: UK
Theme: Economy
Next release: We expect to publish an update in Summer 2027.
This statistics release is the annual update of reliefs for charities and their donors. Tables 1, 2 and 6 are Accredited official statistics — this is the new name for National Statistics. Tables 3 to 5 are Official Statistics — this has not changed. There are no other major changes to the way we publish these statistics since the previous update.
Table 1: Summary of UK tax reliefs for charities and donors
For the tax year to April 2026, tax reliefs for charities and their donors, where an annual estimate is available, were around £7.4 billion, up 4% year-on-year.
This is comprised of:
- £5.05 billion of reliefs for charities, up 2% year-on-year
- £2.34 billion of reliefs for donors, up 7% year-on-year
Gift Aid
Charities may claim the basic rate of Income Tax on qualifying donations by individuals.
In the tax year to April 2026, HMRC paid charities £1.88 billion in Gift Aid, up 10% on the previous year. About half of this increase was driven by a small number of additional very large Gift Aided donations.
We explore Gift Aid more in the section for Table 2 (below), which breaks down Gift Aid by value of payments per organisation.
Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme
The Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme is related to the main Gift Aid scheme but is much smaller and separate. This scheme permits charities to claim the equivalent of basic rate Income Tax for some smaller donations when the donation is made by someone who is physically present. This is technically government expenditure rather than a tax relief, but we show it in Table 1 for completeness.
Payments under this scheme stayed the same at £40 million in tax year ending April 2026.
Non-domestic rates relief
Also known as ‘business rates relief’, this allows charities an 80% reduction in the corresponding business rate; some authorities top this up by a further 20% resulting in complete exemption.
This estimate now also includes non-domestic rates reliefs for charities based in Northern Ireland, as well as for charities based in England, Scotland, and Wales.
This relief continues to be the largest single source of tax relief granted directly to charities. In tax year ending April 2026 it is forecast to be £2.87 billion, decreasing by 1%.
Stamp Duty Land Tax
This tax is payable when buying or leasing land or property, and is relieved for charities, who do not have to pay it when buying a property. The cost of this relief may vary with changes in the tax regime and property prices as well as other factors.
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is collected in England and Northern Ireland. Before April 2018 and April 2015, property transactions in Wales and Scotland respectively were included, but these taxes have now been devolved and replaced with separate land and buildings transaction taxes, and no longer appear here after those dates.
Relief of Stamp Duty Land Tax for charities was down 10% to £280 million in the year to April 2026. The forecast for the cost of SDLT charities relief assumes that trends in sizes and volumes of transactions in the first six months of the financial year will continue. The lower estimated cost of SDLT charities relief is therefore due to relatively fewer claims for this relief in the first 6 months of 2025-26.
The figures for the most recent tax years is provisional: we will update this data in the next release of these statistics.
Chart 1a: summary of the above reliefs for charities, £ millions, by tax year ending
| Tax Year ending | Gift Aid, £ million | Other reliefs claimed with Gift Aid, £ million | Business Rates (non-domestic rates), £ million | Stamp Duty Land Tax, £ million | Total for charities, £ million |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 1,350 | 10 | 2,400 | 360 | total £4,020m |
| 2020 | 1,400 | 10 | 2,500 | 420 | total £4,220m |
| 2021 | 1,380 | 10 | 2,500 | 210 | total £3,990m |
| 2022 | 1,340 | Less than 10 | 2,510 | 310 | total £4,170m |
| 2023 | 1,600 | 10 | 2,520 | 330 | total £4,460m |
| 2024 | 1,600 | 10 | 2,680 | 330 | total £4,620m |
| 2025 | 1,710 | 10 | 2,910 | 310 | total £4,940m |
| 2026 | 1,880 | 10 | 2,870 | 280 | total £5,050m |
Inheritance Tax (IHT)
This is a wealth transfer tax. Only around 5% of UK deaths result in an Inheritance Tax liability: those that do may reduce the amount due by giving to charity.
For tax year ending April 2026, the tax cost of these reliefs for charitable donations was estimated to be £1.28 billion, around 6% higher than the previous year.
There is always some uncertainty in these reliefs for the most recent tax years due to the relatively small number of relatively large estates making bequests, and the longer time between liability arising and information becoming available to HMRC. We will update this column in the next release of these statistics.
More detailed information on this relief can be found in the Tax Reliefs Publication. As explained in that publication, the number of estates above the NRB (Nil Rate Band, £325,000 tax-free allowance for IHT) estimated to have claimed the charity exemption rose, resulting in an increase in the cost of the exemption in the most recent tax years.
Higher rates of tax on Gift Aid
Sometimes called ‘higher rate relief’, this allows individual donors to reclaim tax at a rate equal to the difference between their marginal rate and the basic rate on donations where Gift Aid has already been claimed by a charity. This is explained in more detail in HMRC’s Gift Aid guidance.
For tax year ending April 2026, we will not know the value of donations taxpayers will declare until Self Assessment returns for that year become due in 2027, so we have forecast this figure for the latest complete tax year as usual. Our provisional forecast of higher rate relief is £920 million, an increase of 10% year-on-year. We expect that the value of donations rises consistently with an increase in the underlying amounts charities claim via Gift Aid.
Chart 1b: summary of the above reliefs for donors, £ millions, by tax year ending
| Tax Year ending | Inheritance Tax, £ million | Payroll Giving, £ million | Gifts of Shares & Property, £ million | Higher rates of tax on Gift Aid, £ million | Total reliefs for donors, £ million |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 640 | 40 | 80 | 560 | total £1,310m |
| 2020 | 670 | 40 | 130 | 540 | total £1,370m |
| 2021 | 680 | 40 | 100 | 550 | total £1,370m |
| 2022 | 910 | 40 | 90 | 660 | total £1,700m |
| 2023 | 1,230 | 40 | 80 | 720 | total £2,060m |
| 2024 | 1,120 | 40 | 80 | 770 | total £2,010m |
| 2025 | 1,210 | 40 | 110 | 840 | total £2,190m |
| 2026 | 1,280 | 40 | 100 | 920 | total £2,340m |
Reliefs for charities and donors which are not in these statistics
Annual estimates for Corporation Tax, Income Tax, Stamp Duty Reserve Tax and VAT reliefs for charities are not available. Charities are in most cases not required to inform HMRC when they use these reliefs, and the cost of collection for statistical purposes is disproportionate.
A one-off estimate for the cost of relief on corporate donations was estimated in Non-structural tax reliefs for the tax year ending April 2022, which was for £880 million.
Table 2: Gift Aid payments to charities
In the year to April 2026, HMRC paid charities and community amateur sports clubs £1.88 billion in Gift Aid, up 10% from the previous year.
Chart 2a: Value of Gift Aid paid to organisations, £ millions, by annual amount to each organisation
| Tax year (ending April) | up to £1,000 per org | £1,001 to £5,000 | £5,001 to £10,000 | £10,001 to £50,000 | £50,001 to £100,000 | £100,001 to £1 million | Over £1 million | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 £ million | 10 | 60 | 60 | 200 | 90 | 320 | 620 | total £1,350m |
| 2020 £ million | 10 | 60 | 60 | 200 | 90 | 320 | 670 | total £1,400m |
| 2021 £ million | 10 | 60 | 60 | 200 | 90 | 300 | 670 | total £1,380m |
| 2022 £ million | 10 | 50 | 60 | 200 | 90 | 330 | 610 | total £1,340m |
| 2023 £ million | 10 | 50 | 50 | 210 | 90 | 350 | 840 | total £1,600m |
| 2024 £ million | 10 | 50 | 60 | 220 | 100 | 370 | 790 | total £1,600m |
| 2025 £ million | 10 | 60 | 60 | 230 | 110 | 410 | 850 | total £1,710m |
| 2026 £ million | 10 | 50 | 60 | 230 | 110 | 430 | 980 | total £1,880m |
The number of charities receiving Gift Aid was 67,650 in the tax year ending April 2026, about the same as the previous year.
Chart 2b: Number of organisations receiving Gift Aid paid to charities, by annual amount to each organisation
| Tax Year (ending April) | up to £1,000 per org | £1,001 to £5,000 | £5,001 to £10,000 | £10,001 to £50,000 | £50,001 to £100,000 | £100,001 to £1 million | Over £1 million | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 29,000 | 23,830 | 7,980 | 9,770 | 1,260 | 1,230 | 150 | Total: 73,220 |
| 2020 | 27,900 | 23,270 | 8,140 | 9,700 | 1,250 | 1,220 | 160 | Total: 71,640 |
| 2021 | 26,590 | 22,980 | 7,990 | 9,610 | 1,270 | 1,200 | 160 | Total: 69,780 |
| 2022 | 24,750 | 20,650 | 7,710 | 9,680 | 1,270 | 1,280 | 150 | Total: 65,490 |
| 2023 | 23,110 | 20,740 | 7,620 | 9,800 | 1,330 | 1,370 | 190 | Total: 64,170 |
| 2024 | 23,250 | 21,870 | 7,790 | 10,320 | 1,420 | 1,470 | 190 | Total: 66,310 |
| 2025 | 23,050 | 22,300 | 8,050 | 10,630 | 1,530 | 1,580 | 190 | Total: 67,320 |
| 2026 | 22,720 | 22,340 | 8,130 | 10,930 | 1,670 | 1,660 | 210 | Total: 67,650 |
Tables 3, 4 and 5: Donations declared by individuals completing Self Assessment
At the time of release, Self Assessment data is available up to the tax year ending in April 2025.
Chart 3a: Number of people declaring a donation by Self Assessment
| Tax Year ending | Number of donors |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 1.28 million people |
| 2021 | 1.25 million people |
| 2022 | 1.29 million people |
| 2023 | 1.34 million people |
| 2024 | 1.32 million people |
| 2025 | 1.30 million people |
The number of individuals declaring a donation via Self Assessment is generally stable over time. 1.3 million people have declared a donation via Self Assessment in tax year ending April 2025. However, as usual, we expect there to be some late filing and amendments. When we update our 2025 records in 2027, we expect this figure to rise slightly.
Chart 3b: Value of donations declared via Self Assessment
| Tax Year ending | Gift Aided Donations | Shares / Property donations | Total value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 3.0 | 0.7 | total £3.7 billion |
| 2021 | 3.0 | 0.5 | total £3.5 billion |
| 2022 | 3.5 | 0.6 | total £4.1 billion |
| 2023 | 3.5 | 0.5 | total £4.0 billion |
| 2024 | 3.7 | 0.5 | total £4.1 billion |
| 2025 | 4.1 | 0.5 | total £4.7 billion |
The total value of donations increased from £4.1 billion to £4.7 billion in tax year ending April 2025. The rise is broadly due to an increase in the value of donations across all donations sizes, but especially on donations over £10k. This increase is provisional, as the last few tax returns are received and updated. We expect to update this in 2027.
In these tables, we define a ‘donor’ as any individual who entered a donation in the relevant section of a Self Assessment form. That is, either in the form of Gift Aided cash donations or in the form of qualifying assets gifted to charity. It does not include donors who do not submit a Self Assessment return, who typically pay no Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax or the basic rate of Income Tax.
Calculations of donations as a proportion of income exclude individuals with nil income or where the ratio of donation to income was over 100%.
Following the most recent statistics consultation, we have reviewed the efficacy of the ‘Mean donation as a share of SA donors’ gross income’ column and propose the removal of the column ‘Mean donation as a share of SA donors’ gross income’. If this would cause issues for you, please get in touch at personaltax.statistics@hmrc.gov.uk. Information about how donations change with income is still available in Table 4b.
Tables 4 and 5 group this data by several characteristics of Self Assessment taxpayers.
Donations by gross income
Likelihood to donate increases with income. 7% of Self Assessment taxpayers with income under £50,000 declared a donation compared to 37% of those with income over £250,000.
However, donors earning under £50,000 donated the largest proportion of their gross income compared with higher earners, 3% of their income on average.
Donations by taxpayer’s age
Likelihood to donate increases with age. 20% of Self Assessment taxpayers 65 or more years old declared a donation.
Donors who were aged 65 and up donated the largest proportion of their gross income compared to younger donors, 3.5% of their income on average.
Donations by taxpayer’s sex
Female Self Assessment taxpayers are a little more likely to declare a donation than male taxpayers: 13% of women and girls compared to 11% of men and boys.
Donations by UK nation, region and Parliamentary constituency
Table 5 provides geographical information and breaks down the total number of individuals declaring a donation via Self Assessment and the total value of those donations by region and Parliamentary constituency.
Self Assessment taxpayers in London and the South East of England were the most likely to donate: 14% and 15% respectively of these declared a donation.
Donors in Northern Ireland donated the highest proportion of their income, 3.8% for the average Northern Ireland donor compared to 2.4% across the UK.
Table 6: Payroll Giving scheme
An employer wishing to set up a Payroll Giving scheme contracts with an agency approved by HMRC. Employees wishing to take part authorise the employer to deduct amounts from their pay and nominate the charities to which their gifts should go. Donations are deducted before tax which reduces the effective tax rate that the employee pays. Payroll Giving donations are not eligible for Gift Aid. The gross amount donated and the number of participating employees are estimated from information provided by Payroll Giving agencies.
This table has been updated to include the tax year ending April 2025. Data for donations in the following tax year is not expected to be available until the next release of these statistics, but we have, as usual, forecast the value of Payroll Giving relief to taxpayers for the most recent tax year, ending April 2026, which is steady at around £40 million. This is shown in the column for Payroll Giving in Table 1.
| Tax year ending April | Gross amount donated £ millions | Cost of Income Tax relief £ millions | Millions of employees participating, previous basis | Thousands of employees participating, current basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 131 | 40 | 1.11 | not available |
| 2017 | 131 | 40 | 1.07 | not available |
| 2018 | 137 | 40 | 1.03 | not available |
| 2019 | 133 | 40 | 1.09 | not available |
| 2020 | 132 | 40 | not available | 591 |
| 2021 | 137 | 40 | not available | 545 |
| 2022 | 128 | 40 | not available | 516 |
| 2023 | 127 | 40 | not available | 483 |
| 2024 | 125 | 40 | not available | 504 |
| 2025 | 131 | 40 | not available | 475 |
In April 2019, agency changes to their definition of the number of participating employees removed a group of employees who participated by donating in a previous tax year, but not in the tax year being reported on. This resulted in a large apparent drop in the number of employees. However, this does not reflect a real change in the number of employees donating. We cannot back date previous years with the change in definition, so we show the number of donors from before that date in a separate data series.
Tables of data
This document is a summary of and commentary on our statistics. View the full tables in this release.
Related publications
Whilst we cannot comment on the accuracy of external statistics, these resources offer complementary coverage on UK charities.
- the section on charitable giving in DCMS’s Community Life Survey
- the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)’s UK Giving report — registration required
- an overview of Charity Commission for England and Wales statistics
- data and research by OSCR, the Scottish Charity Regulator
- data from the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland
Contact us
Statistics contact: We welcome your comments and technical statistics questions on these statistics at personaltax.statistics@hmrc.gov.uk.
Media contact: news.desk@hmrc.gov.uk