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You can claim back 25p every time an individual donates 拢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 拢30 or less, for example from a collection.

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 鈥榖enefit鈥� 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

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鈥檚 full name
• donor鈥檚 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鈥檚 collection envelopes.

You may still be able to claim on cash donations of 拢30 or less if you do not have a declaration.

You may be able to claim 25% on:

• cash donations of 拢30 or less
• contactless card donations of 拢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 拢2,000 in a tax year or 拢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鈥檙e 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 拢1,000 worth of donations through GASDS if you鈥檝e received 拢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

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 拢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鈥檙e claiming for donations made before 6 April 2017, the connected charities must share a single 拢8,000 limit.

Keeping records

You need to record the:

• total cash donations collected
• date of the collection
• date it was paid into a bank account

You鈥檒l need to keep records of any contactless card donations that you鈥檝e taken, for example receipts from your card machine.

For collections in community buildings you鈥檒l 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鈥檙e 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鈥檒l get paid

You鈥檒l 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.