Tax efficient giving

Our Gift Aid Guide, available to download at the bottom of the page, has step-by-step instructions for running Gift Aid in your parish, written with advice from experienced treasurers. It has useful information for newcomers to Gift Aid, plus tips for old hands: 

• Worked examples showing how to keep your Gift Aid records 
• Guidance on how to claim using the HM Revenue & Customs online claim form 
• How to run the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) 
• Frequently asked questions, practical tips and sample letters to parishioners 
• Examples of ‘borderline cases’ from a fictional parish 
• Links to further help on the web 

Regular givers should be invited to complete a Gift Aid Declaration form so that you can reclaim the tax they have paid without any further work on the donor’s part. The required wording can be found in our Gift Aid Guide, downloadable from the bottom of this webpage. 

Churches and charities are encouraged to include full forenames on Gift Aid Declarations, as HMRC is looking to see an improvement in the number of claims which include full forenames to help with eligibility checks. 

It is possible to collect a donor’s Gift Aid declaration when the donation is made by email, online or verbally over the phone, without having to post a hard copy declaration form. See national church guidance. 

A sponsorship form template, which includes a Gift Aid column for donors to simply tick, is downloadable below. 

This scheme enables churches and charities to claim a top-up payment similar to Gift Aid on up to £8,000 a year on cash, contactless and now also chip & PIN donations up to and including £30 without the need for Gift Aid Declarations, although your church must also run a Gift Aid scheme in order to claim GASDS. Retrospective claims can be made back as far as 2 years from the end of the tax year in which the donation was made. Download our Gift Aid Guide (below) or visit the Church’s national GASDS guidance web page. 

HMRC has confirmed that, where churches normally make use of the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) in relation to small gifts given in weekly envelopes, it is happy to accept Gift Aid claims for separate weekly envelopes containing £30 or less or multiple gifts given in one envelope with a declaration stating how much was donated each week and the relevant dates, for example when a donor has missed attending church for a week or more.

HMRC has an online claims process requiring charities to provide information in a set way. Make sure you keep your records in the right way for easier claiming and that you are set up to make claims. 

See National Church Gift Aid claims guidance and HMRC schedule requirements.