The Gift Aid on Entry scheme is a simple system, widely used by charities, which allows us to claim back money from the taxman on the amounts which we collect in entry fees to view the Crofton Beam Engines. As a UK tax-payer, you will have already paid income tax on the money you pay us to enter. Gift Aid allows us to reclaim that tax and so dramatically increases the value of your payment to us. However, to use this scheme, you must pay Income and/or Capital Gains Tax (VAT and Council tax do not count) in the current tax year at least equal to the value of the tax which is reclaimed on the total Gift Aid donations you make here and elsewhere.
To allow us to reclaim Gift Aid, our Gift Aid admission has to be 10% above the standard rate. But this extra donation is entirely voluntary, and you can of course pay the standard admission rate if you prefer, or if you are not a taxpayer.
Here are some examples of how it works:
| Ticket with Gift Aid (Non Steaming Day) | Tax reclaimed | |
| You pay £5.80 | £1.45 | |
| So your extra donation of 55p means that we get £2.00 more for Crofton |
| Ticket with Gift Aid (Steaming Day) | Tax reclaimed | |
| You pay £12.00 | £3.00 | |
| In this case, your extra donation of £1.25 generates £4.25 for Crofton |
This represents a very welcome boost to our income which is badly needed for the vital conservation projects so necessary to keep this wonderful, historic site open and alive with steam. So we would encourage all our visitors (if you are eligible) to pay the Gift Aid rate as it results in such a large increase in our income.
If you are a higher rate taxpayer, you can include your payment as a charitable donation in your tax return, and the saving in tax to you more than offsets the higher initial charge. So you benefit as well as Crofton!
