Gift Aid for Community Amateur Sports Clubs

Individuals who are UK taxpayers can make monetary gifts to sports clubs that have registered with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) as Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) using Gift Aid in much the same way as they can make gifts to charities.

Gift Aid is available for voluntary donations of money and not for payments for goods and services such as for the personal use of sports facilities. Unlike charities there are no circumstances in which membership subscriptions to a CASC can qualify for Gift Aid. Only voluntary donations from members can count.

On this page:

Understanding Gift Aid
Maximising Gift Aid for CASCs
Further information on Gift Aid
Contacting the HMRC Charities Helpline
More useful links

Understanding Gift Aid

Gift Aid is an easy way to help your CASC maximise the value of its donations, as you can reclaim tax from HMRC on the 'gross' equivalent (its value before tax was deducted) at the basic rate. This is 20 per cent from 6 April 2008. You can work out the amount of tax you can reclaim by dividing the amount donated by four. This means that for every £1 donated, you can claim an extra 25 pence.

In addition, HMRC will automatically pay your CASC a further three pence for every pound - this 'transitional relief' - to adjust to the fall in basic rate tax (from 22 per cent to 20 per cent) is available from 6 April 2008 until 5 April 2011. This means that for every £1 donated, your CASC can claim 28 pence, so the total value of the donation is £1.28.

As well as benefiting your CASC, if a donor is a higher rate taxpayer, they too can benefit from tax relief as they can claim the difference between the higher rate of tax at 40 per cent and the basic rate of tax at 20 per cent on the total value of the donation - a total of 20 per cent. So if £1 was donated, the gross donation would be £1.25, so your CASC could claim 25 pence back (20 per cent of £1.25).

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Maximising Gift Aid for CASCs

Clubs are free to set membership fees at whatever levels they like. To maximise Gift Aid, your club could set a basic membership fee - although it's a good idea to make sure that your membership fees at least cover your running costs. Your CASC could then suggest a voluntary donation on top of the basic fee, which would qualify for Gift Aid - but it must be clear to the person joining that they can join without paying the donation. Anyone who joins the club should have the same access to facilities without paying the extra donation.

For example, if you set your membership at £50 with a suggested (but not compulsory) donation of £30 and someone chooses to give you £80 then £30 qualifies for Gift Aid.

Money raised through fundraising events such as dinners, balls or concerts could also benefit through applying this principle on top of the ticket/entry price but strict rules apply.

The sponsorship of individuals raising funds for the club, for example, running in marathons, completing sponsored swims or taking adventure fundraising events, all qualify in full providing the Gift Aid rules are met.

Find out more about the Gift Aid rules

Providing benefits in return for donations

Your CASC can give donors modest (low value) tokens of appreciation - called 'benefits' - in order to acknowledge a gift but there are limits on their value.

Benefit value limits for donations

The same benefit rules apply to CASCs as to charities. They are:

Amount of donation	Benefit value limit
£0 -100	25% of the donation
£101 - £1,000	£25
Above £1,000 donated up to and including 5 April 2007	2.5% of the donation
Above £10,000 donated up to and including 5 April 2007	£250
Above £1,000 donated on or after 6 April 2007	5% of the donation
Above £10,000 donated on or after 6 April 2007	£500

The benefit limits listed above are for Gift Aid purposes only. If you give a donor a benefit in return for a payment this may be considered a business supply for VAT purposes and VAT may be due on the income.

Find out more about giving benefits in return for donations

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Further information on Gift Aid

Find out more on how Gift Aid works, how to make a repayment claim, what records to keep, and how to run an effective Gift Aid scheme in the Gift Aid guides for charities and CASCs.

Gift Aid scheme for charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs

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Contacting the HMRC Charities Helpline

For more help you can contact our Charities Helpline on Tel 0845 302 0203 (open from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday). Select option 6 for Gift Aid.

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