How do I actually claim Gift Aid?

England and Wales: This page sets out the position in full. Scotland: the same rule, with no difference in principle — the claims route, the time limit and the record-keeping duty are all a UK-wide reserved tax matter. Northern Ireland: the same position, with no difference in principle, for the same reason.

What has to be in place before you claim Gift Aid?

Before you claim Gift Aid, four things must already be in place:

• the declarations exist — design a compliant Gift Aid declaration
• the records are kept — set up your Gift Aid record-keeping and audit trail
• the income has been checked — classify your income for Gift Aid eligibility
• any donor benefits have been tested — control donor benefits

Claiming is then a matter of assembling what already exists, not deciding anything new. The process is HMRC’s, and it is the same for trustees and treasurers in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Claims go through Charities Online — HM Revenue and Customs’ own online service. A charity that genuinely cannot use it files the paper ChR1 form instead. There is no other current channel.

If the charity’s access is not yet in place, set up your Government Gateway and Charities Online access first. Recognising the Gift Aid you expect back in the accounts is the money hub’s subject, starting from recording your first restricted grant.

The schedule spreadsheet

The schedule spreadsheet is the claim itself. It lists individual donations, with one row per donor, per gift, each matched to a declaration already on file.

HMRC supplies the template. The charity fills it with data already sitting in its own records, if the record-keeping step has been followed properly. Every row has to trace back to an identifiable donor with a valid declaration behind it. A spreadsheet is a summary of existing evidence, not a substitute for it.

What is the time limit for a Gift Aid claim?

The time limit for a Gift Aid claim is the same length for every charity. But the clock starts from a different point for a company and for a trust. Treating them as identical is the single easiest way to submit a claim too late without realising it.

• A charitable company, CIO or CASC has 4 years from the end of the ACCOUNTING PERIOD to which the claim relates — FA 1998 Sch 18 para 55: 'a claim for relief under any provision of the Corporation Tax Acts must be made within 4 years from the end of the accounting period to which it relates.'.
• A charitable trust or unincorporated association has 4 years from the end of the TAX YEAR (year of assessment) to which the claim relates — TMA 1970 s.43(1): 'no claim for relief in respect of income tax or capital gains tax may be made more than 4 years after the end of the year of assessment to which it relates.'.

Working to “from the end of the tax year” for every charity would be wrong for most. Most are companies or CIOs, running to an accounting period instead. Check which clock applies to your own structure before you rely on the deadline.

Keeping the audit trail behind the claim

A submitted claim is not the end of the paperwork: the records behind every line have to be kept too. 6 years after the end of the accounting period the records relate to — FA 1998 Sch 18 para 21(2)-(2A), extended by para 21(3) while an enquiry is open. HMRC 3.30.2: 'A charity run as a charitable company, which most are, must keep tax records (including Gift Aid declarations and records) until 6 years after the end of the accounting period they relate to.' A charitable trust’s position differs in two ways at once, not one: a different start point, and an extra alternative limb. In practice, ★ GAP CLOSED 2026-08-19. The LATER of 6 years after the end of the TAX YEAR the records relate to, or 12 months after the charity makes a Gift Aid repayment claim for that tax year — HMRC 3.30.3, verbatim. It differs from the company rule in TWO ways, not one: a different start point AND an extra alternative limb. HMRC adds: 'If the charity is asked to make a tax return there are different rules.'

Whichever clock applies, the schedule spreadsheet on its own does not satisfy the retention duty. HMRC’s own guidance is explicit on this point: transcribing declarations into a database does not demonstrate that the donor made the declaration. The underlying record has to survive too.

What HMRC checks against this file is the subject of what HMRC looks at if it audits your Gift Aid.

Does GASDS share the Gift Aid deadline?

No. GASDS claims have their own deadline, shorter than the Gift Aid one above and measured differently. Your charity may also collect small cash donations you cannot attach a declaration to, and those go through that separate scheme.

The two schemes do not share a clock. A charity may batch its claims once a year, timed to the Gift Aid deadline. It can then run past the GASDS deadline for the same tax year without noticing. The next step, setting up GASDS and applying the matching rule, covers GASDS on its own terms.

Common mistake: using an R68i form

Older guidance and older internal procedures sometimes still reference the R68i paper form. It is no longer used — HMRC confirmed this in April 2026. Claims go through Charities Online, or the ChR1 paper form where online filing genuinely is not possible.

Worked example

Wrenfield Village Hall, an unincorporated association, has a year of monthly standing-order donations behind it, each already matched to a declaration on file.

Because Wrenfield is unincorporated, its claim time limit runs from the end of the tax year, not from an accounting period — 4 years from the end of the TAX YEAR (year of assessment) to which the claim relates — TMA 1970 s.43(1): 'no claim for relief in respect of income tax or capital gains tax may be made more than 4 years after the end of the year of assessment to which it relates.'. The claim amount itself is the total of the year’s qualifying donations, multiplied by the Gift Aid rate. That rate is derived from the basic rate of Income Tax: 25 pence for every pound given.

The result is a single submitted claim, with every line traceable back to a valid declaration. It is filed in good time against the correct deadline for an unincorporated body.