donating shares

Advice for potential donors: gifting stocks and shares

Introduction – gifting to charities

Many individuals choose to gift some of their assets to charity, either in their lifetime or in their will. Gifts to charities can take the form of shares which the individual may hold directly (via a share certificate) or through an investment manager or financial adviser.

The procedure

Any gift of shares can be transferred directly into IFAW’s portfolio, which is managed by

Rathbone Greenbank Investments. The procedure for this type of transfer is as follows:-

Send a letter to IFAW confirming:

• Your full name
• Address
• Telephone number
• Date of Birth
• Nationality
• NI Number
• What holding you would like to gift to the charity and the number of shares/units
• How the security is held (i.e. certificated or electronic)

Our investment managers, Rathbone Greenbank Investments, will liaise with you directly regarding the transfer process.

Rathbones would then produce the required transfer authority form to be sent to you

At this stage, they will also ask you to send the original share certificate(s) to them (if applicable).

If you do not have the share certificate for your holding, you will need to apply for a letter of indemnity for the missing certificate. Rathbones will liaise with you directly regarding this process and assist with any paperwork. Please note that the share registrar will charge a fee to replace any lost certificates which is usually in the region of £20-£40. In order to cover this cost, Rathbones will ask you to send a cheque (made payable to the registrar) with the signed indemnity form.

Rathbones will check the holding and initiate the transfer.

Once all of the paperwork has been received, the transfer normally takes around two to three weeks for the shares of individual companies. The transfer of unit trust holdings takes longer.

Tax position

If you give qualifying shares to a charity during your lifetime, you may be able to claim income tax relief and capital gains tax relief.

HMRC allows income tax relief to be claimed on gifts of:

• Shares or securities which are listed on any recognised stock exchange. This includes London and Plus Listed in the UK and any recognised overseas stock exchange.
• Shares or securities dealt in on any designated market in the UK. The only markets so designated currently are the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange and the PLUS-Quoted market of PLUS Markets.
• Units in an Authorised Unit Trust (AUT).
• Shares in a UK Open-Ended Investment Company (OEIC).
• Holdings in certain foreign collective investment schemes - generally schemes set up outside the UK that are similar to AUTs and OEICs.
• A qualifying interest in land in the UK.

Tax reliefs can be claimed via a Self Assessment tax return. For further information and advice on the tax position, please consult HMRC and/or an accountant.