Gift AidChurches are regarded as charities and within a certain set of rules can claim back Gift Aid resulting in 25p being recovered every time an individual donates £1. Resources are available to help parishes claim Gift Aid from HMRC using one of the three processes that were introduced in 2013:
Gift Aid claims now require more information about the donor than previously, so you will need to check your records, and if you have more recent information regarding the donor’s name, address and postcode, then you should update this form: Gift Aid form | DOCX It is now possible to collect Gift Aid declarations verbally and by email and the guidance is here: Gift Aid Verbal Form | PDF Gift Aid Guidance | PDF It’s important to check periodically that you’re operating the Gift Aid scheme in line with good practice, and there is a simple checklist to help you ensure you are adopting good practice: Gift Aid Checklist | PDF One of the most important things to do each year is to remind your donors to check that they are still taxpayers, and notify you if they are no longer paying sufficient tax – the personal allowance has risen in recent years, taking a number of people on lower incomes out of the tax bracket. Full details and links to helpful information can be found on: Parish Resources | Weblink Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS)The Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) allows parishes to claim a Gift-Aid style repayment to be received on small cash and contactless donations of up to and including £30 to a threshold of £8,000 of donated income per tax year per church. (The £8,000 threshold applies from the 2016/17 tax year – the limit for prior years was £5,000). In total, it should benefit parishes by more than £15 million a year. The guidance on this page offers practical guidance for Church of England parishes – it does not provide complete guidance to the scheme. There are two different elements to the scheme: 1. If you are a PCC with a single church, then you should now use the Top Up element of the scheme. (You should also use the Top Up element if you have more than one church building in the parish, but your eligible donations in total are not more than the £8,000 limit). Single church parish guidance | PDF 2. If your PCC has more than one church, then you should continue to use the Community Buildings element of the scheme. If you have a church plant, or run services in other buildings, there is an additional guide to GASDS and Church Plants. Multi-church parish guidance | PDF Church plant guidance | PDF Whichever guidance you are following the core of the scheme is simple to operate, and we’d encourage parishes to keep it that way. Don’t try and do anything different to change how much qualifies – for many parishes, loose plate collections and regular giving envelopes on which there is no Gift Aid declaration will form the basis of your claim. GASDS is claimed alongside Gift Aid using the same processes. These changed in 2013, and guidance is found above on how to claim. Update on GASDS while Church Buildings are not fully open HMRC have issued the following statement about GASDS while church buildings are not fully open: In respect of GASDS, guidance on the eligibility for donations for inclusion in this scheme is clear in stating that claims can only be made on cash donations of £30 or less; and contactless card donations of £30 or less collected on or after 6 April 2019. The decision over what constitutes an eligible donation is one for the church/charity to make for themselves, rather than for HMRC, but the conditions for something to be considered a ‘small donation’ are clearly set out in legislation. Where it is the case, for example, of separate donations being given in a single envelope, then if the church/charity official is happy these are clearly separate ‘small donations’ (and clearly stated as such) then they will be eligible for GASDS, as is the case where separate envelopes are used.
FAQs
What you need to do nowYou need to make sure you’re keeping the right records. HMRC require you to keep three elements of evidence, all of which you should already have in place: To be eligible, Small Donations must be banked at bank or post office branch in the UK. You must keep evidence to show that you have deposited at least the amount claimed under GASDS. So, for example, if after a service you have £250 which is eligible for the small donations scheme, the amount banked must be at least that. In practice, because of cash in Gift-Aided planned giving envelopes it will be higher than that – this is fine. It doesn’t need banking separately. You will also need records showing when the cash was collected. For most parishes, this will be in two parts, as outlined in our guidance. a) Vestry forms showing the cash collected at services, which provides evidence of the donations that are eligible. These should be signed. You can use your own forms, if they separate out loose cash from that given in envelopes and can exclude donations where you know than an individual gave more than £30. An example form is available: b) The envelope register, which will identify regular planned giving in envelopes not covered by a Gift Aid declaration. These can also be included in the scheme provided the donation given in a particular week is in cash and is of £30 or less. In order to claim under the Community Buildings element of the scheme (which parishes with more than one church are likely to need to do) on donations received prior to 6 April 2017, you will need evidence to show that collections were taken at services or other charitable activities when there were more than 10 people attending. This will usually be your service register. Please note: This information is intended as guidance only. You should consult HMRC or other professional adviser if you are in doubt as to the Gift Aid regulations.
Updated 2 July 2020. |