Further guidance on online gift aid claims

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has issued further guidance for charities on how to make gift aid claims online using its upcoming Charities Online Service.

To claim online from the 22 April, charities will need to record their donations on a ‘gift aid schedule spreadsheet’, and attach it to its claim. The schedule spreadsheets will be written in an OpenDocument format.

Charities will use the spreadsheet schedule to record donations from individuals, or from sponsored events. They can also add together or aggregate donations of £20 or less from different donors and show them as a single entry on the spreadsheet, provided that the total donation on one line is not more than £1,000.

Charities must have valid gift aid declarations for all the donations shown in the schedule spreadsheet.

All claims on the spreadsheet should include the minimum donor information that's already required on the valid donor gift aid declaration form.

The schedule spreadsheets are written in OpenDocument format. HMRC advises that to view and fill in the schedule spreadsheets, charities will need certain software.

In order to give charities more time to prepare for the changes, HMRC will continue to accept the existing R68(i) print and post forms until 30 September 2013.