This is a valuable source of income for churches and can increase the amount of donations and regular giving by 25%. The church will need to be registered with HMRC and to obtain a Gift Aid declaration from the donor, who must be a tax payer.
Donations may be regular gifts in which case an enduring Gift Aid declaration should be obtained or they may be one off gifts (e.g. from visitors) in which case you can purchase envelopes with the Gift Aid declaration printed on them or print your own.
The Parish Resources website has some very helpful fact sheets about getting started, record keep and making a claim at parish resources.
It’s important that the wording of your declaration complies with HMRC requirements and there is a template on the Parish Resources site.
It is also possible to claim a Gift Aid style payment on donations of up to £20 (increasing on 6th April 2019 to £30) in cash with a cap of claiming on £8,000 of donations per tax year. Further information including record keeping and how to claim can be found at GASDS
This is a Gift Aid administration scheme which parishes can join at no extra cost and which enables donors to increase their gift by inflation each year. Full details are here.
Click here for information on software for recording donations and click here for information about claiming Gift Aid/GASDS on digital donations.
