UK Tithing Calculator

For people in the UK who are paying Tithing via "Gift Aid" you might find this "Tithing Calculator" useful:

http://bit.ly/tithingslip

The web page has purposely been designed to be accessible on a smartphone.

The link on the page also takes you to the church's UK page with all the information about paying via Gift Aid (including information about how to pay via online banking).

This is a great idea thank you and looks good on a smartphone. On future versions, tt would be great to include a box for the amount you can reclaim if you pay a higher tax rate of 40% and tweak to include the changes from 06 April 2011, eg. 20% Tax rebate.

2MyCloud wrote:This is a great idea thank you and looks good on a smartphone. On future versions, tt would be great to include a box for the amount you can reclaim if you pay a higher tax rate of 40% and tweak to include the changes from 06 April 2011, eg. 20% Tax rebate.

I WILL make the changes from 6 April once it is officially announced what the change will be.

With the 40% higher tax rate then the reason I have not included it is because in order to get that then you have to reclaim that personally on your self-assessment.
The specific aim of this one was to help people fill out their gift aid tithing slip which will be submitted to the Solihull office and they will only reclaim of the basic rate band.

I could think about checking the wage people put in and then give info/warning further down if their earnings are too low to quality or if they might be able to reclaim some more themselves. I am a little hesitant about the latter since there is a difference between what is taxable income and what is gross income and what individuals base their tithing calculation on. BUT I will have a good think about that. Any ideas would be welcome.

Glad you liked it, feel free to share it.

The other reason for doing it is to spread the word more about the "Gift Aid" option. It is still surprising to see people who are not aware of it.

2MyCloud wrote:This is a great idea thank you and looks good on a smartphone. On future versions, tt would be great to include a box for the amount you can reclaim if you pay a higher tax rate of 40% and tweak to include the changes from 06 April 2011, eg. 20% Tax rebate.

I have now included support for the 40% Tax Band as well as a potential warning if the person is not earning enough. I say potential as I am only catering for people on standard tax rates.

This calculator will assume you enter gross wage amount and tithing is based on this as well.

Thank you for making this available. One small suggestion, would it be possible to change the word Wage to Income.

or even 'Increase' - if we are to be truly compliant

cottrells wrote:Thank you for making this available. One small suggestion, would it be possible to change the word Wage to Income.

Done.

dannykos wrote:or even 'Increase' - if we are to be truly compliant

By saying "Income" I think it is more clear about what I mean as we are talking Gross Income and we are also trying slightly to deal with tax bands and tax allowance based on PAYE income. Since I only cope with people who pay tithing on the gross then I am not truly compliant there either

Next step I guess would be to enhance it and include details of how I have calculated it all as I have already had a couple of people asking why their 40% is lower than they thought and the reason was because they can only reclaim up to the max of what they have paid in that tax band. So on £44k a year you dont actually pay very much tax at 40% and therefore cannot reclaim much extra at that rate and it is only the difference between what the church reclaim (22%) and the 40% in total so you only get 18% extra.

kennethjorgensen wrote:For people in the UK who are paying Tithing via "Gift Aid" you might find this "Tithing Calculator" useful:

http://bit.ly/tithingslip

The web page has purposely been designed to be accessible on a smartphone.

The link on the page also takes you to the church's UK page with all the information about paying via Gift Aid (including information about how to pay via online banking).

Pardon my ignorance, but why is 10% not 10% in the UK?

allenjpl wrote:Pardon my ignorance, but why is 10% not 10% in the UK?

It is. Check that you've taken into account the two drop down selections for Income and Paid.
The default is Income yearly and paid monthly. If you enter Income 20,000 and then "Calc Tithing" the figure returned is 166.67 which when multiplied by 12 = 2000.04 a touch over the 10% expected.

What figures/selection did you use that didn't produce the expected 10%?

cottrells wrote:What figures/selection did you use that didn't produce the expected 10%?

I have to admit, I'm kind of puzzled too. I guess my question is, what else is going on to make it necessary to use a calculator? I'm ignorant of the factors behind this.

RussellHltn wrote:I have to admit, I'm kind of puzzled too. I guess my question is, what else is going on to make it necessary to use a calculator? I'm ignorant of the factors behind this.

You can read more about it in the wiki under Gift Aid. But since it only affects the UK, I'm not sure why it would matter to someone in the US, other than general curiosity.

aebrown wrote:I'm not sure why it would matter to someone in the US, other than general curiosity.

Bingo. The most helpful link was the A Practical Example. For someone in the 40% tax bracket, for a £100 donation, the charity gets £125, but the cost to the donor is only £75. Depending on what you're trying to accomplish (for example, a net cost to the member of £100), I can see the need for a calculator.

So I guess the remaining question is what is the goal of the calculator? (Not wanting to start a debate on how people should do it, but understanding the goal of the calculation is important in making a personal decision on using it.)

For myself, I've always done it that if I get a $1000 paycheck (before tax), that I pay $100 to the church. Any taxes that the government decides to refund because of the donation comes back to me. I had not considered that since I wouldn't be getting that portion back if I didn't make a donation might be considered an "increase".

So I guess my question is, according to this calculator, what is the net result it's trying to accomplish?

RussellHltn wrote:I have to admit, I'm kind of puzzled too. I guess my question is, what else is going on to make it necessary to use a calculator? I'm ignorant of the factors behind this.

The main benefit is working out the Gift Aid rebate that the UK Government allows the Church to claim from the donors income tax. This rebate is always credited to the donors tithing account, so the online slip takes this into account when working out the final totals for the donor to use. It also show the additional amount higher rate taxpayers can claim on their own tax returns in respect of donations to the Church.

See also https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Gift_Aid

RussellHltn wrote:For myself, I've always done it that if I get a $1000 paycheck (before tax), that I pay $100 to the church. Any taxes that the government decides to refund because of the donation comes back to me. I had not considered that since I wouldn't be getting that portion back if I didn't make a donation might be considered an "increase".

So I guess my question is, according to this calculator, what is the net result it's trying to accomplish?

The way I work this is that I still pay £100 to the Church from an income of £1,000, but knowing that the Church will claim back £28.21 to credit my tithing account I fill in my slip £71.79 tithing and £28.21 other offerings = Total £100. The Church then credits my tithing £100 and other offerings £28.21 = Total £128.21. The online caluclator helps to easily work out the amount that will be rebated.

Others may want to work out that if they pay £78 the Church will receive £100. It's up to the individual how they want to work the rebate into their Church donations.

RussellHltn wrote:So I guess the remaining question is what is the goal of the calculator?

Let me add on to cottrells good comments:

Personally I think all the information about calculating Gift Aid manually is available at the link shown on the calculator and I find the information the church provide on this issue enough for me to deal with it BUT not all are that way.

To many it can be a bit daunting to also think about "Am I paying enough tax to reclaim some of it?", "What if I pay 40% tax?" etc etc. Take the example of the 40% tax band. To most it is complicated to know what to do since the church can only reclaim at the basic rate (22%) and person then has to reclaim the difference (18%) on their self assessment. On top of that the person also has to make sure they have paid enough tax in the 40% band to reclaim some or all of it. Similar is the case for many on part-time and/or lower wages. The calculator takes the manual steps away to a large degree as it will consider those extra calculations.

The calculator has prompted people who in the past havent bothered to now consider it as using the calculator seems far less daunting.

Others felt it was "piece of mind" to see their own calculation be correct and a few even got their's wrong (and was grateful to be corrected before extra tax bill would have arrived).

Another said it was nice to have that quick link on his phone so he didnt have to remember how to do it and what to fill in where etc. His income was variable due to overtime etc.

Another said he had no problem calculating the amount but would love an email button that would automatically email the office to tell them how he wanted his online transaction to be broken down. That will be next thing to do as I myself would like that too (for Android users). It is handy when your wage is not the same every month.

The calculator has now been adjusted to cope with the new tax year 2011/2012.

Plus the church has also implemented it on http://www.lds.org.uk/member-area/gift-aid/

If you want the mobile version then http://bit.ly/tithingslip is still the better option.

That's great Kenneth. I'm glad to see that the admins at lds.org.uk have incorporated your script

Anyone know why the lds.org.uk website took this calculator down?

gregleece wrote:Anyone know why the lds.org.uk website took this calculator down?

We can only assume the whole UK site is currently being updated hence why the whole site gets a redirect to lds.org. Notice it is not only the Gift Aid calculator which is not available but also all the other member sections. You can always use my version which is not down (see further up for the link)

I have now found out the whole of the UK site (lds.org.uk) is currently being integrated into the main site (lds.org). When (and if) the "member section" will be integrated is not known at the moment.

If anyone wants more information about Gift Aid then look at the wiki page here.

My income has increased. I need to pay more tithing and increase my contributions. How do I go about this please? I am already registered with gift aid but want to provide a modified breakdown of donations.

MamaMel wrote:My income has increased. I need to pay more tithing and increase my contributions. How do I go about this please? I am already registered with gift aid but want to provide a modified breakdown of donations.

You simply email the church's gift-aid department (giftaid@ldschurch.org) with the new donation breakdown and they will record this and use it for any future donations. For every time your donation amount changes you simply email them again.

See also https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Gift_Aid

Hi there, used the gift aid calculator for years but suddenly stopped working.. using Chrome on Windows 11.

rmartin83 wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:16 am Hi there, used the gift aid calculator for years but suddenly stopped working.. using Chrome on Windows 11.

There's a small chance that clearing your browser cache and deleting relevant cookies might solve that problem. If it works in incognito mode (alias a private browser window), that is a pretty good indication that clearing cache and deleting cookies will solve the problem for normal mode, too.

rmrichesjr wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 6:02 pm

rmartin83 wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:16 am Hi there, used the gift aid calculator for years but suddenly stopped working.. using Chrome on Windows 11.

There's a small chance that clearing your browser cache and deleting relevant cookies might solve that problem. If it works in incognito mode (alias a private browser window), that is a pretty good indication that clearing cache and deleting cookies will solve the problem for normal mode, too.

I have the same issue, I tried it on my mobile and laptop, cleared cache and incognito window - nothing worked... any suggestions anyone?

Hi Kenneth, I am having problems with the UK Tithing Calculator. I am not able to get the value to display in the Tithing field after clicking the Calc Tithing button. I have tried using two different browsers - Chrome and Edge - without any success. Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong? Thanks, Adrian Rowe

I recently tried to use the gift aid calculator, but it doesn't appear to be working. Is this just a temporary glitch?

HI everyone,

Thank you for reporting the issue with the Gift Aid Calculator.
It is a mystery since it has not changed since 2015.

To get it working again I will create a new one in HTML5 and get the same calculation working again.

Give me a week or so and I should be able to find some time to sort it.

Kenneth

kennethjorgensen wrote: Mon Jan 08, 2024 8:25 am It is a mystery since it has not changed since 2015.

It looks like it was written in JavaScript. I suspect there's been a change in the default security settings, perhaps limiting what sites can run it.

I have now rewritten the Tithing Gift Aid Calculator in HTML5 for a more modern look.
It is in the same place: https://bit.ly/tithingslip

Hi how do i cakculate my tiths

Seek out your Elders Quorum President or Bishop, they can best answer your question and would best know you and your situation.

Can you tell me the rate of Gift Aid on Tithing in the UK? On all the Government Web pages that I can see, it shows that Gift Aid can be claimed at 25%, yet in the Gift Aid Calculator in calculates the rate at 20%. Can you explain this please? Thanks.

As explained on GOV.uk https://www.gov.uk/donating-to-charity/gift-aid

Donating through Gift Aid means charities and community amateur sports clubs (CASCs) can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you give.
So the amount to be rebated is 25% of your donation.

You donate £1 the charity can claim 25p (25% of donation) = TOTAL £1.25

However if you look at it from another point of view
You want to make a total donation to tithing of £1.25 after the rebate.
Then you make a donation of 80% of your eventual donation and the UK government rebate makes up the other 20%
25p being 20% of £1.25

Just like Cottrells explains at the end of his reply you have to think of the reversed calculation to how the gov site is explaining.

If your tithing to pay in total is £100 then you pay £80 and the church will claim £20 from the HMRC. £20 of £80 is 25%.
The calculator starts with the end result in mind and that's how you think its using 20%.

The UK GIft Aid calculator has had a facelift:
https://myalnwick.co.uk/LDS/GiftAid/index.html

It now also support PWA so it's installable on Windows and mobile phones.