Give more money and keep more too

By being smart with your tax allowance you can increase the amount of money you are giving to charity, while decreasing the amount of money going out of your account.

By using tax-efficient methods, a £100 donation to charity can cost you £77 while the charity receives £128.

It really is a case of having your cake and eating it - as Bernard Oster, managing director of Tax Watchdog, explains.

"Gift Aid is a tax relief on money donated to any UK registered charity. These payments can be any size and can either be regular or ad hoc payments," he said.

"Gift Aid allows you to give more to charity and give your charity a much needed tax break. This means if you make a donation of £1, the charity can reclaim the 28p tax and receives £1.28. If you made the same donation without Gift Aid the charity would receive only £1 in comparison."

He added: "Any UK taxpayer can use Gift Aid as long as they pay enough UK income tax/capital gains tax themselves to cover the amount of tax that the charity will reclaim.

"If someone is planning to make a donation under the Gift Aid Scheme, they should provide a gift aid declaration that states their full name, address and details of the donation and charity, clearly stating the donation is made under the Gift Aid Scheme and that they have paid sufficient tax to cover the donation."

Additionally, higher rate taxpayers can receive even more.

This is because while the charity claims back 28 pence in the pound from the Inland Revenue, the individual can claim an additional 18 per cent personal tax relief - which is the difference between the higher rate of 40 per cent and the basic rate of 22 per cent that the charity claims back.