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How to reclaim tax on Gift Aid and other income

If you are a UK charity or a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) you can claim back basic rate tax from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on Gift Aid donations. You can also claim back tax deducted from other income such as bank or building society interest or tax deducted from income arising on gifts left to your charity in a will.

You’ll find step-by-step guidance below on how to claim back tax in these situations, including how to apply to HMRC for recognition as a charity for tax purposes, nominating the individuals or agencies you wish to make the tax repayment claims for your charity or CASC, and how to fill in the relevant forms.

The guidance also covers special procedures for sponsored event claims and the time limits for making a claim.

On this page:

Step 1: Apply to HMRC for recognition as a charity or CASC for tax purposes

Before you can make a tax repayment claim on income that’s already had Income Tax deducted from it - for example on Gift Aid donations or on other income such as bank/building society interest - you need to be recognised by HMRC as a charity for tax purposes. Recognition by HMRC as a charity is a separate process from registering with the Charity Commission or another charity regulator for charitable status.

Likewise your sports club will have to register as a CASC with the HMRC Sports Club Unit in order to be able to claim tax back on Gift Aid donations.

Once you’re recognised by HMRC as a charity or CASC for tax purposes, you’ll be sent a reference number for use on all repayment claims and correspondence, and you’ll receive all the forms you need to make your first repayment claim.

How to apply to HMRC for recognition as a charity for tax purposes

How to register as a Community Amateur Sports Club with HMRC


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Step 2: Nominate an authorised claimant

Before you can make a repayment claim you need to nominate someone in your charity or CASC to be a signatory and/or ‘authorised claimant’. This means that they can claim and/or receive money on behalf of your charity or CASC.

You can nominate anyone you consider suitable for these roles - for example, your treasurer, an employee, a trustee, the charity’s accountant or a claimant agency such as the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).

You’ll need to fill in and return one of the following forms:

  • ChN1 Nomination of an authorised signatory and/or claimant – used to add a new or additional authorised claimant(s) and is sent out automatically when you register with HMRC
  • ChN2 Nomination of Authorised Agency – used if you want to nominate a claimant agency to handle repayment claims on your behalf
  • ChN2A Notification of Authorised Signatory – to be filled in by an authorised claimant agency, to tell HMRC which of their employees is allowed to sign claim forms on behalf of a particular charity or CASC

Make sure you complete the forms in full and sign them. Failure to do so may delay your repayment claims.

ChN1 Nomination of an authorised signatory and/or claimant

Complete part A with the details of the person you want to receive payments and/or sign repayment claims.

Part B must be filled in by two trustees, directors or members of the managing committee of your charity or CASC.

More than one person can be authorised to make a claim, but you’ll need to complete a separate form for each person. If you’re adding a second signatory, you should make this clear so that HMRC do not use the form to replace the original authorised signatory with a new person.

Go to form ChN1 Nomination of an authorised signatory and/or claimant

ChN2 Nomination of Authorised Agency

Part A should be completed by a representative of the agency nominated to act on behalf of your charity or CASC.

Part B must be filled in by two trustees, directors or members of the managing committee of your charity or CASC.

Go to form ChN2 Nomination of Authorised Agency

ChN2A Notification of Authorised Signatory

Used by the agency representative named in form ChN2 to nominate a representative to be authorised to sign claims.

Go to form ChN2A Notification of Authorised Signatory

You can send the forms back with your first repayment claim.

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Step 3: Fill in the R68 ‘Gift Aid’ and/or ‘other income’ schedules

The R68 Gift Aid schedule and R68 Other income schedule are the starting points for any repayment claim that your charity or CASC makes.

  • Use the ‘Gift Aid’ schedule to enter the names of your donors who have completed a Gift Aid declaration, and the amounts they have donated.
  • Use the ‘other income’ schedule to give HMRC details about other income you’ve received such as bank or building society interest from which tax has been deducted.

You need to complete the R68 ‘Gift Aid’ and ‘other income’ schedules to show the appropriate accounting period for all income received so that HMRC can work out if there is any repayment interest due to you.

These forms are the starting point for making a claim because you will use the information from them to fill in the R68 Claim form. This in turn will show the total repayment due to you. To avoid common errors when completing the schedules read the related guide below.

How to fill in the ‘Gift Aid’ and/or ‘other income’ schedules

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Step 4: Fill in the R68 Claim form

Use form R68 Repayment claim for charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs to tell HMRC the total amount of tax that you’re claiming back - use the figures from the R68 ‘Gift Aid’ or ‘other income’ schedules (Step 3). You can use the same form to claim repayment for more than one tax year or accounting period. This gives the overall amount that you want to claim.

You will also need to provide payment details - who HMRC should make the payment to, and whether it should be via a direct payment or by cheque. Your nominated signatory must remember to sign and date your claim.

Go to the R68 Claim form

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Gift Aid claims for sponsored events

Gift Aid claims for sponsored events follow a slightly different procedure, as follows:

  • You should make the claim separately from any other repayment claim.
  • You can make a separate claim for each sponsored event.
  • You still need to complete form R68 Claim form.
  • The name of each participant in a sponsored event can be listed on the R68 Gift Aid schedule together with the total Gift Aid donations on their sponsorship form(s). Alternatively the name of each sponsor and the amount of their gift should be listed on the R68 Gift Aid schedule.

You must still keep all of the original sponsor forms available for any audit of your claim by HMRC.

Sponsorship form design

If you’re using the sponsorship form as a schedule to your repayment claim it’s important to include the correct information on the form. The sponsorship form must contain the following:

  • the name of your charity or CASC
  • the sponsor’s full name
  • the sponsor’s home address including postcode
  • a Gift Aid declaration
  • a column containing a checkbox for the donor to tick, indicating that they want their donation to be treated as a Gift Aid donation and that they understand what the Gift Aid declaration means
  • a note explaining that the sponsors must pay a sufficient amount of tax at least equal to the amount that your charity or CASC will claim

There is no official form available for sponsored events but HMRC provides a Model Gift Aid Sponsorship Declaration Form that you can adapt to suit particular events.

Go to the Model Sponsorship Declaration form

Rules for sponsorship declaration form completion

You can only claim Gift Aid on the donations where the sponsorship form has been correctly completed by the sponsors.

Donors who want their sponsorship payments to be treated as a Gift Aid donation must:

  • give their full name (at least their last name and initial) - Nana, Uncle Fred etc are not sufficient
  • give their home (not work) address - as a minimum their house name/number and their full postcode is acceptable - HMRC accepts that some donors, for example in the workplace, may not want to give their full home address
  • tick the column to indicate that they want your charity or CASC to treat their sponsorship payments as Gift Aid donations

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Gift Aid forms checklist

Once you’ve completed your repayment forms, check them carefully as any missing information may delay your repayment.

Use the checklist below to make sure you’ve completed everything before you send your form to HMRC.

  • Has the form been signed and dated by an authorised claimant?
  • If the authorised claimant has changed since your last claim have you enclosed a completed form ChN1 Nomination of authorised signatory/claimant or form ChN2 Nomination of Authorised Agency with the claim?
  • Have you checked that the figures on each of the schedule(s) and on the claim form add up correctly?
  • Have the figures on the schedule(s) been correctly added up and copied on to the R68 Claim form?
  • Have all the necessary supporting schedules been enclosed with the form?
  • Have you correctly worked out the tax that you are claiming on the R68 Claim form?
  • Have you calculated your repayment using the correct rate of tax? Basic rate tax is currently 20 per cent.
  • For claims relating to sponsored events have you restricted your claim to only those donations where the sponsorship form has been correctly completed?
  • Have you included your correct and up-to-date bank account details on the R68 Claim form? A change in your banking details may cause a delay in making repayment to your charity.

You should not send in any Gift Aid declarations with your claim.

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Time limits for making a claim

You can make a claim whenever you like, but there are certain time limits. Once the time limit for making a repayment claim to HMRC has passed any tax due can’t be claimed. However, charities or CASCs are eligible to receive interest on backdated repayment claims that are received by HMRC within the time limits.

Time limits for a charitable trust

Claims by a charitable trust must be made no later than five years after the 31 January following the end of the tax year to which the claim relates. Interest is payable from 1 February in the year following the tax year in which the income in question was received.

So, for donations made during the tax year ended 5 April 2007, the final date on which a Gift Aid repayment claim can be made to HMRC Charities is 31 January 2013. For income received in the tax year ended 5 April 2007 interest is payable from 1 February 2008.

For donations made during the tax year ended 5 April 2002 the final date on which a Gift Aid repayment claim could be made to HMRC Charities was 31 January 2008. It is now too late to make a repayment claim on donations received during this period.

Time limits for all other charities and CASCs

Claims by CASCs and charitable companies must be made no later than six years after the end of the accounting period to which the claim relates. Interest is payable from the day after the end of the accounting period during which the income was received.

So, for donations made during an accounting period ended 31 December 2007, the final date on which a Gift Aid repayment claim can be made to HMRC Charities is 31 December 2013. For income received in an accounting period ended 31 December 2007 interest is payable from 1 January 2008.

For donations made during an accounting period ended 31 March 2002, the final date on which a Gift Aid repayment claim could be made to HMRC Charities was 31 March 2008. It is now too late to make a repayment claim on donations received during this period.

Time limits for claims that qualify for transitional relief

To qualify for payment of Gift Aid transitional relief on donations made between 6 April 2008 and 5 April 2011, claims must be made within two years of the end of the charity’s accounting period/tax year. You don’t need to make a special claim for transitional relief – HMRC will pay it automatically along with your Gift Aid tax repayment.

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Sending your claim forms to HMRC

When you’ve completed and checked your forms, return them to:

HMRC Charities
Repayments (Unit 361A)
St John’s House
Merton Road
Liverpool
L75 1BB

When can you expect your repayment?

Once HMRC receives your claim form, if everything is in order you can expect your payment within 15 working days. First claims submitted to HMRC should be paid within 25 working days of receipt.

If you make any mistakes or leave gaps on your form, HMRC may have to contact you or make further enquiries which can cause delays and may mean you wait longer for your payment.

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Contacting the HMRC Charities Helpline

For more help you can contact the 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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More useful links

Gift Aid record keeping and audit requirements

Gift Aid declarations

Forms for charities and CASCs

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