Church of England parishes collectively receive over £84 million in Gift Aid tax rebates each year, over £30 million more than the amount collected in the year 2000, and sufficient to pay 3,500 clergy stipends! This is a great tribute to the hard work of volunteers running Gift Aid programmes in parishes throughout the country, as well as a testimony to the value of the Gift Aid scheme.
This section offers resources to help you run an effective Gift Aid programme in your parish. Churches are charities, and can recover the basic-rate tax paid on donations made by donors who are UK taxpayers. The system is easy to set up and operate and one declaration can apply to all donations that a donor makes. This page also has resources for the new Small Donations Scheme that allows for a Gift Aid style repayment on small cash donations received in churches.
2013 Important Update:
HMRC are introducing a completely new method of claiming Gift Aid this year, alongside the new Small Donations Scheme. Click here for a summary of action you need to take this year and here for a special page on the Small Donations scheme.
Gift Aid Fact Sheets:
These Fact Sheets are to help you make the most of Gift Aid…..
- GA1 Gift Aid Action needed in 2013 (v3) - what you need to do THIS YEAR.
- GA2 Higher Rate Taxpayers & Gift Aid - guidance for churches.
- GA3 Can we claim Gift Aid on….. ??
- GA4 Basic Principles and Donor Benefit - don’t fall foul of the rules.
- GA5 Ten tips for maximising Gift Aid
- GA6 HMRC Audits
- GA7 HMRC’s new ‘Fit and Proper Persons’ Test - what you need to do.
- GA8 Aggregated Claims (v2) - how to bundle Gift Aided donations of £20 or less when claiming
- GA9 Small Donations Scheme (v3) - a new scheme allowing a Gift Aid style payment from HMRC on cash donations of £20 or less, where no Gift Aid declaration has been received.
Suggested Vestry Record in Word or Excel.
Starting Out:
These factsheets aim to help new Gift Aid officers, and churches setting up Gift Aid for the first time:
- GAB1 Getting Started with Gift Aid – an overview to the scheme
- GAB2 A job description for a Gift Aid Officer
- GAB3 Registering with HMRC
- GAB4 Gift Aid declarations and Envelopes
- GAB5 Keeping Records
- GAB6 Making a Claim
- GAB7 Common Mistakes
However, you may not need to operate Gift Aid yourself as some dioceses offer a Diocesan scheme. These include Canterbury, Lichfield, Liverpool, Manchester, Peterborough, Portsmouth, and Southwell & Nottingham. If you are in one of these dioceses, you might like to contact your Diocesan Office to find out more about them.
Data Developments have produced some free Gift Aid checklists. You may find these a helpful way of assessing your Gift Aid processes.
