How a small charity claims Gift Aid, step by step

Before the first claim

The organisation has to be recognised by HMRC as a charity or a community amateur sports club for tax purposes. A charity registered with the Charity Commission applies for that recognition; a charity in England and Wales with income under £5,000, which does not have to register with the Commission, can still apply to HMRC for recognition to claim Gift Aid. A CASC registers with HMRC.

Claims are made online through HMRC’s Charities Online service, or by post on form ChR1 from the charities helpline.

Which gifts qualify

Gifts of money from individuals who have made a declaration and paid enough UK tax: at least as much Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax in the tax year as all the charities and CASCs they give to will claim. Gifts from limited companies do not qualify, and neither do payments for goods or services, or membership fees paid to a CASC. Charity membership fees have special rules of their own.

The declaration

There is no set form, but a declaration must give the name of the charity or CASC, the donor’s full name and home address, whether it covers past, present and future gifts or just one, a statement that the donor wants Gift Aid to apply, and an explanation that the donor must pay at least as much UK tax as all the charities and CASCs they give to will claim, and is responsible for any difference.

It can be written, verbal or online. A verbal declaration needs a written confirmation sent to the donor that includes the same details and says they can cancel within 30 days. Keep declarations for 6 years from the end of the accounting period they relate to.

Filling in HMRC’s schedule

HMRC’s Gift Aid donations schedule is a spreadsheet with one line per donor: title (up to 4 characters), first name, last name, house name or number, postcode (in capitals, with the space), then aggregated donations, sponsored event, the donation date (DD/MM/YY, or the latest date of a series) and the amount (no £ sign, two decimal places). Small gifts of £20 or less from different donors can be added together on one aggregated line of up to £1,000, described instead of named.

A schedule holds up to 1,000 lines; a claim with more than 1,000 donations goes through software that submits to Charities Online. Keep the template’s layout and sheet name as they are, and save it in the format HMRC asks for, or it will not attach to the claim.

A worked claim

Three donors gave in the quarter: Mrs A Patel £120, Mr J Smith £60 and Ms R Okafor £240, each with a declaration on file covering those dates. The schedule has three lines totalling £420, and the claim is £420 × 25p = £105. Paid online, HMRC aims to pay within 4 weeks.

Time limits

Claim within 4 years of the end of the financial period the gift was received in. For a charitable trust that period is the tax year, 6 April to 5 April; for a CASC, a CIO or a charitable company it is the accounting period. A CIO with a 31 March year end that received a gift on 10 June 2025 has until 31 March 2030 to claim it. Claiming every quarter or every year keeps well inside it.

The small donations scheme

Cash gifts of £30 or less, and contactless card gifts of £30 or less since 6 April 2019, can earn a top-up even without a declaration, under the Gift Aid small donations scheme. A charity or CASC can claim up to £2,000 a tax year this way — 25% of up to £8,000 of small gifts — if it also claims Gift Aid in the same tax year, the small donations claim is no more than 10 times that Gift Aid claim, and it has had no penalty in the last 2 tax years. Membership fees do not count, and the claim is due within 2 years of the end of the tax year the money was collected in.