Gift Aid · United Kingdom
Every gift from a donor who has made a declaration is worth 25p in the pound more to a UK charity or CASC. Fin tags each donor’s gifts as they arrive, then lays the period’s donations out in the order of HMRC’s schedule, with the total and the claim value. You check the declarations and submit it.
A charity or a community amateur sports club recognised by HMRC for tax purposes can claim back 25p for every £1 an individual gives, when the donor has made a Gift Aid declaration and has paid at least as much Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax in that tax year as all the charities and CASCs they give to will claim. On the £420 in the picture above, that is £105. A charity in England and Wales below the £5,000 registration threshold can still ask HMRC to recognise it as a charity for tax purposes and claim. How a small charity claims Gift Aid, step by step.
Choose the type at sign-up and the Gift Aid donors lens is set up beside Funds, Members and Events.
A CASC registers with HMRC, claims Gift Aid on donations and cannot also be a charity for tax purposes. Choosing CASC sets up the same lens.
Membership fees paid to a CASC, and payments for goods or services, cannot carry Gift Aid; charity membership fees have special rules of their own. The sheet is built only from gifts tagged to a Gift Aid donor.
Each donor is an entry in the Gift Aid donors lens. When you add one, Match payments from <name> writes a rule in one click — say money from R OKAFOR → R. Okafor — and every gift from them is tagged to their entry as it arrives from the bank feed or a statement you upload. The gift keeps its category and its fund; the lens is a second way of reading it. For any period you choose, the claim sheet lists those gifts in the column order of HMRC's Gift Aid donations schedule:
| Column | What HMRC asks for |
|---|---|
| Title | Up to 4 characters, such as Mrs or Dr |
| First name | The donor’s first name |
| Last name | The donor’s last name — a space, not a hyphen, in a double-barrelled one |
| House name or number | Not the whole address |
| Postcode | In capitals, with the space |
| Aggregated donations | For small gifts grouped on one line instead of a named donor |
| Sponsored event | “Yes” when the line is sponsorship for an event |
| Donation date | DD/MM/YY, or the latest date in a series from one donor |
| Amount | Without a £ sign, to two decimal places |
Under the lines sit the total and the 25% claim value. HMRC's spreadsheet takes up to 1,000 lines a sheet, and a claim with more than 1,000 donations goes through software that submits to Charities Online instead.
Written, verbal (with a written confirmation) or online, naming the charity, the donor's full name and home address and which gifts it covers. Keep them for 6 years from the end of the accounting period they relate to; one that covers future gifts stays while the donor keeps giving, then 6 years from the final donation.
Check the sheet against the declarations, copy it into HMRC's schedule spreadsheet and submit it through Charities Online. A claim made online is usually paid within 4 weeks.
Four years from the end of the financial period the gift arrived in — the tax year for a trust, the accounting period for a CASC, CIO or company. A sheet per year keeps you well inside it.
Cash and contactless gifts of £30 or less from donors you cannot name may still qualify under the small donations scheme, claimed separately (up to £2,000 a tax year, within 2 years of the end of the tax year). This is general information, not tax advice — HMRC’s Gift Aid guidance and your own declarations decide what can be claimed.
Restricted, designated and general money read from one bank account, with receipts and payments by fund.
Registered charities and CIOs: grants kept apart, donors tracked, the examiner’s figures ready.
Clubs, PTAs, CASCs and community groups: subs, events and the AGM statement.
Gift Aid, answered
The Gift Aid rules on this page come from HMRC’s own guidance:
Computed from published government rates and guidance. General information to prepare with, not personal tax advice — confirm what applies to you with your accountant or tax authority.
Add your donors once, and every gift that arrives is ready for the next claim.
