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HMRC Gift Aid rules for charities and guidance on how to claim gift aid as a charity. How does Gift Aid work, how far back can you claim Gift Aid (time limits), and who can claim? Including declaration forms, Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GSADS), retrospective claims for previous years, with links to everything you need to claim yours.
This is one of 4 guides we have for claiming Gift Aid – How to Register with HMRC, (it's not just registered charities!), 19 different ways to claim charity Gift Aid and simple steps to maximise your Gift Aid.
For donations over £30, donors need to sign a Gift Aid declaration, which must be retained on file. But for small donations you can claim for donations of up to £30, with less administration, using the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS). For example, collections tins and bucket collections, including donations made using contactless technology, such as a contactless credit or debit card.
You do not need to know the identity of the donors or collect Gift Aid declarations, but you must have claimed Gift Aid in the same tax year as your GASDs claim.
There is no limit on the amount of Gift Aid that a charity can claim, except for the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme. This limits the amount a charity can claim is the lower of £8,000, or 10 times the amount you receive in Gift Aid donations.
But, there is a way to claim more. If you’re a charity with 2 or more community buildings, you can claim a maximum of £8,000 on either, small donations collected anywhere in the UK, or for each community building collected in the same Local Authority area.
Except for the small donations scheme (under £30), for a donation received from an individual, you must have received a Gift Aid declaration from the donor. Gift Aid declarations can be in writing (including by email, or text message), orally (in person or by telephone) or online. There is no set design for a declaration form or a verbal declaration, but these must include specific information. In particular, historically, HMRC have accepted initials only but they will reject any application where they can't identify the individual, so it's always best to provide an individual's full name.
You can download example Gift Aid declaration forms for one-off donations, all donations and sponsored events. Gift Aid claims must be submitted via Charities Online or the ChR1 form. R68i forms are no longer used.
Here’s the HMRC login to claim Gift Aid online and, if you need it, step-by-step guidance to submitting a Gift Aid claim, the HMRC Gift Aid spreadsheet and a Gift Aid FAQs and common mistakes list to help you.
If you're a registered charity, but aren't yet registered with HMRC, here's my guide on how to do so.
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HMRC has a range of downloadable spreadsheets to claim back tax through Gift Aid, Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) or other income using Charities Online.
This guidance by the Charity Tax Group, lists common Gift Aid errors and frequent questions provided by HMRC.
The time limits for keeping Gift Aid records depend on how the charity is treated for tax purposes, but for most it's 6 years after the end of the accounting period they relate to. However, for ongoing donations you'll need to keep the enduring Gift Aid declarations, no matter how old it is.
HMRC recommends that charities check the personal details of active Gift Aid donors at least every two years, including confirming that the donor continues to pay sufficient UK tax.
The HMRC example declarations include in the statement on time limits - donations may be claimed up to 4 year's retrospectively. You need to claim for a donation within 4 years of the end of the financial period you received it in and 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. Do you have donors from the last 4 years, who haven't made a declaration, but who might if you asked them?
If you think that sounds like a waste of time, I spoke to someone who carries out large scale Gift Aid audits. The largest amount he's found so far was £0.7 million.
Membership subscriptions paid to a charity which offer access to facilities and services in return are not eligible for Gift Aid but can be claimed on the element of the subscription that confers membership rights such as voting rights and the right to attend the charity’s AGM. From March 2026, you must advertise the split between this element of the subscription and any additional charges for facilities or services before any membership is subscribed to. Full details here.
Gift Aid donations made to charities and CASCs by companies are paid gross and so, unlike the individual Gift Aid Scheme, no tax is repayable to charities or CASCs. For a charity or CASC the donation is treated as potentially taxable income, but is exempt from tax.
Companies wholly owned by a single charity or by 2 or more charities, or partly owned, can claim Gift Aid donations, but special rules apply.
Guidance – Gift Aid, How to register with HMRC, What You Can Claim For and How to Claim.
Charity Help Line – telephone 0300 123 1073, Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm.
Here is a list of other tax reliefs, with links to the guidance you'll need to claim these.
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Plus, 60+ policies, 8 online health checks and the huge resource base. Our AI Ready programme and Charity Excellence Learning free online AI training courses, give non profits everything they need to make effective use of AI and stay safe.
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This guidance on HMRC Gift Aid rules and claims is not professional advice and is for general information only. I'm Scottish, so finding ways for you to claim money off the Government is something I'm enthusiastic about. However, I'm not an accountant, so not professionally competent to offer Gift Aid tax advice, besides which it depends on your circumstances. This guidance will help you to identify opportunities you may have missed, but it's not professional advice.
Why is Gift Aid 25%?
Gift Aid allows UK charities to claim back the basic rate tax paid on donations by a donor. This means charities can claim back from HMRC 25p for every £1 donated, boosting the value of the donation by a quarter.
You must claim Gift Aid within 4 years of the end of the financial period you received it in and 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.
A Gift Aid declaration must state the donor's full name and home address, name the charity, identify the gift or gifts to which the declaration relates and confirm that the identified gift or gifts are to be treated as Gift Aid donations.
All CASCs and charitable trusts and most charities must keep declaration records for 6 years from the end of the accounting period they relate
Donations qualify as long as they're not more than 4 times what you have paid in tax in that tax year. The tax could have been paid on your income or capital gains. You must tell the charities you support if you stop paying enough tax.
The Gift Aid small donations scheme (GASDS) does not require a Gift Aid declaration and allows you to claim on cash and contactless card donations up to £30.
Your GASDS claim cannot exceed 10 times your Gift Aid claim in the same tax year and is also capped at £8,000 of small donations (a maximum £2,000 top‑up).
Membership subscriptions paid to a charity which offer access to facilities and services in return are not eligible for Gift Aid but can be claimed on the element of the subscription that confers membership rights such as voting rights and the right to attend the charity’s AGM.
