Commentary on Sections Section 14: Power to alter specified amount etc
101.Section 14 gives the Treasury the power to alter a range of numbers within the Act. Subsections (1) and (6) give the Treasury the power to vary the monetary amounts specified. These are the “specified amount” for a tax year which is currently set at £5,000 and the amount of a “small donation” in the Schedule which is currently set at £20.
102.Subsection (2) gives the Treasury the power to amend, abolish or reinstate the gift aid matching rule. The reinstated rate is not required to be the same as the rate that was removed. Subsection (3) defines this rule as that limiting the amount of top-up payments to which a charity is entitled by reference to the amount of gifts made to the charity on which it has made successful gift exemption claims.
103.Subsection (4) gives Treasury the power to alter the eligibility rules in section 2. This enables the criteria in section 2 to be varied, removed or reinstated, if previously removed. Subsection (5) limits this power so that the condition in section 2(1)(a) that a charity or CASC must have a Gift Aid history cannot be removed.