UK Tithing Calculator

Do you have a useful link that involves the Church and the technology discussed on this site? Post your links and resources here.
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aebrown
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#11

Post by aebrown »

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.
Questions that can benefit the larger community should be asked in a public forum, not a private message.
russellhltn
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#12

Post by russellhltn »

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?
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cottrells
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#13

Post by cottrells »

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
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cottrells
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#14

Post by cottrells »

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.
kennethjorgensen
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#15

Post by kennethjorgensen »

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.
kennethjorgensen
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#16

Post by kennethjorgensen »

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.
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cottrells
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#17

Post by cottrells »

That's great Kenneth. I'm glad to see that the admins at lds.org.uk have incorporated your script :)
gregleece
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#18

Post by gregleece »

Anyone know why the lds.org.uk website took this calculator down?
kennethjorgensen
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#19

Post by kennethjorgensen »

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) :-)
kennethjorgensen
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#20

Post by kennethjorgensen »

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.
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