What you can claim it on

You can claim Gift Aid on donations from individuals. The donor must: have paid the same amount or more in Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax in that tax year make a Gift Aid declaration that gives you permission to claim it You must be recognised as a charity or community amateur sports club ( CASC ) to claim Gift Aid. Special rules for claiming Gift Aid There are special rules for: funds from sponsored challenges for example overseas treks or marathons charity membership fees church collections selling goods on behalf of individuals, for example through a charity shop charity events or to view charity property charity auctions volunteer expenses donated back to your charity or CASC funds raised through charities involved in running schools What you cannot claim it on You cannot claim on donations: from limited companies made through Payroll Giving that are a payment for goods or services or made because your charity or CASC bought goods and services where the donor gets a ‘benefit’ over a certain limit of shares from charity cards or of vouchers, for example Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) vouchers of membership fees to CASCs you got before you were a recognised charity or CASC

Gift Aid declarations

To claim Gift Aid you need to get a Gift Aid declaration from the donor. It should state that the donor: has paid the same amount or more in Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax in that tax year agrees to Gift Aid being claimed You must keep a record of declarations for 6 years after the most recent donation you claimed Gift Aid on. Gift Aid declaration forms The declaration must include a description of the gift and the: name of your charity or community amateur sports club ( CASC ) donor’s full name donor’s home address (at least their house number or name and postcode) Example declarations Download example Gift Aid declaration forms for: one-off donations all donations sponsored events Cash donations You can put a Gift Aid declaration on your charity’s collection envelopes. You may still be able to claim on cash donations of £30 or less if you do not have a declaration.

Small donations scheme

You may be able to claim 25% on: cash donations of £30 or less contactless card donations of £30 or less collected on or after 6 April 2019 This is called the Gift Aid small donations scheme ( GASDS ). You do not need a Gift Aid declaration to claim. From 6 April 2016, you can claim up to £2,000 in a tax year or £1,250 for earlier years. Who can claim Your charity or CASC must have claimed Gift Aid: in the same tax year as you want to claim GASDS without getting a penalty in the last 2 tax years in at least 2 of the last 4 tax years (without a 2-year gap between claims) if you’re claiming on donations made before 6 April 2017 What you can claim Your GASDS claim cannot be more than 10 times your Gift Aid claim. For example, you can claim on £1,000 worth of donations through GASDS if you’ve received £100 of Gift Aid donations in the same tax year. You can claim on donations that are eligible for Gift Aid , but not membership fees. Collections in community buildings If your charity has a community building (for example a village hall or religious building) you might be able to claim more on donations collected either: in your community building in the same council area as your community building, if you collected the donations on or after 6 April 2017 For somewhere to count as your community building, you need to have hosted at least 6 charity events there. The events must have all been attended by at least 10 people. If your organisation is connected to another charity or CASC If one of the charities has a community building, all of the connected charities can either: claim as if they had a community building share a single £8,000 limit - all the charities will need to write to HMRC to do this If none of the charities have a community building, or you’re claiming for donations made before 6 April 2017, the connected charities must share a single £8,000 limit. If your charity has merged with another charity or CASC you may be able to take on the other charity’s record of good claims . Keeping records You need to record the: total cash donations collected date of the collection date it was paid into a bank account You’ll need to keep records of any contactless card donations that you’ve taken, for example receipts from your card machine. For collections in community buildings you’ll also need to record: the address of the place you collected the donations (including postcode) the type of event the number of events you held an estimate of how many people were at the event when you collected the donations How to claim Claim under GASDS in the same way as Gift Aid.

You can claim Gift Aid using Charities Online with: eligible software , like a database a spreadsheet of your donations For claims of over 1,000 donations you must use software. To apply by post use form ChR1, which you can get from the charities helpline. When you must claim Your deadline to claim Gift Aid depends on how your charity is set up. You need to claim for a donation within 4 years of the end of the financial period you received it in. This is: the tax year (6 April to 5 April) if you’re a trust your accounting period if your charity is a community amateur sports club ( CASC ), a Charity Incorporated Organisation (CIO) or a limited company You must claim on cash donations under the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme within 2 years of the end of the tax year that the donations were collected in. Keeping records You need to keep records of these donations for a further two years. When you’ll get paid You’ll get a Gift Aid payment by BACS within: 4 weeks if you claimed online 5 weeks if you claimed by post using form ChR1 Contact the charities helpline if your repayment is wrong or if you submitted an incorrect claim.

Claiming Gift Aid as a charity or CASC

Overview

You can claim back 25p every time an individual donates £1 to your charity or community amateur sports club (CASC). This is called Gift Aid.

You must be recognised as a charity or CASC for tax purposes.

There are rules on which donations you can claim Gift Aid on.

You can claim Gift Aid online - you should get your payment within 5 weeks.

What the donor needs to do

The donor must:

have paid at least as much in Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax in that tax year as you want to claim in Gift Aid
make a Gift Aid declaration that gives you permission to claim it

If the donor has not made a declaration you may still be able to claim on cash donations of £30 or less, for example from a collection.

View a printable version of the whole guide

Claiming Gift Aid as a charity or CASC

Overview

What the donor needs to do

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Claiming Gift Aid as a charity or CASC

Overview

What the donor needs to do

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