Leaving a legacy or donating shares

How to leave a Legacy

Leaving a gift to Bag Books in your will is a very special way of helping to secure the future of the charity. Because of our charitable status, bequests to Bag Books are exempt from inheritance tax. It is always advisable to have your will made by a solicitor who will be able to give you all the legal and tax advice you need. The three main types of gift are:

• Residuary Legacy. This is the residue of your estate after any taxes, debts or bills have been settled and after your bequests to family and friends have been honoured.
• Pecuniary Legacy. This is an exact sum of money. (e.g £5,000).
• Specific Legacy. This is a gift of personal possessions such as a house or a car.

Anything to do with your Will is a very personal matter and Bag Books respects your privacy. However, if you decide to remember Bag Books in your Will, it would help us enormously if you could let us know because we would like to thank you properly. When someone leaves a gift in their will it is often too late to even acknowledge their gift and thank them for their kindness and generosity.

How to donate large holdings of shares

In most cases, if you give shares to Bag Books, or sell them to us at a price below the market value, you can get relief against your personal income tax bill. This is in addition to exemption from capital gains tax on the gains you might have made on those shares. With the higher rate of income tax and capital gains, this can amount to a substantial tax break for donors. For more details, please contact Lucy Barrett, Chief Executive, email: lucy@bagbooks.org

How to donate small holdings of shares

Established in 1996, ShareGift (registered charity number 1052686) is a charity which specialises in accepting smaller numbers of shares of low value, which are not worth selling on their own. ShareGift has now given over £17 million to more than 2,000 different UK registered charities.

ShareGift can accept any number of shares. All you need to do is send your unwanted share certificates to ShareGift. They will re-register and combine shares, sell them and distribute the proceeds to charities such as Bag Books. There is no charge to you or to Bag Books for using ShareGift.

For more information visit http://www.sharegift.org where you can download a Donation Coupon - please remember to tell them that you support Bag Books when making a donation.