Gift Aid > Getting Started

GETTING STARTED WITH GIFT AID

Gift Aid is a Government scheme which allows the charity to reclaim the basic rate of tax paid by donors on donations. This can be applied to any amount of money, large or small, regular or one-off, providing that the donor is a taxpayer, and that a Gift Aid declaration is received.

This declaration will usually either :

• cover ongoing donations, and it can be also be backdated to cover all donations received in the last 6 years
• or cover a one-off donation, when the declaration is usually printed onto the envelope in which the donation is received. 

In order to get started, you will need to :

• develop an appropriate declaration for your donors to complete
• register with HMRC (formerly the Inland Revenue)
• and keep appropriate records.

However, you may not need to operate Gift Aid yourself. A number of dioceses offer a Diocesan scheme.  These include Canterbury, Lichfield, Liverpool, Manchester, Peterborough, Portsmouth, and Southwell and Nottingham.  Find out more about how these schemes work.