This page pulls together resources to help parishes claim Gift Aid from HMRC using one of three processes:
- Via the ChR1 paper form
- Online via Charities Online
- Using commercial software
Over time there have been changes to the information required about the donor. You should check your records and make sure you to update the donor’s name, address and postcode as necessary.
How to claim using a ChR1 form
You can order ChR1 forms from the Charities Helpline. You can use this short two page guide to Claiming Gift Aid using form ChR1. This guidance should be used in conjunction with the form and its accompanying notes.
How to claim online:
We offer a guide to claiming online which includes a number of screenshots and walks you through the process. There is lots more guidance on the HMRC’s website.
To begin your claim visit https://www.gov.uk/claim-gift-aid.
We also offer a Gift Aid datasheet which may be helpful in preparing data in Excel – it performs some simple verification that data is complete and correct, and has the limitations on field length that HMRC require. You can’t upload this spreadsheet to HMRC, but you can ‘cut and paste’ into the LibreOffice spreadsheet required by HMRC. You will need to use the “Paste Special” option and paste “Numbers” and not “Formulas” so that the data is entered into HMRC’s spreadsheet in the right format.
Claiming using Commercial Software
There are several options for commercial software. The ones used most frequently by parishes are Donations Co-ordinator from Data Developments and Fund Filer. If you register with the Church of England’s Parish Buying site, you can obtain a discount code which will enable you to save over £30 on purchasing Donations Coordinator.
You will still need to register with the Government Gateway, but once you have obtained registration details, you will be able to key this into your software which will then claim on your behalf. You may find the guidance for Claiming Online helpful with the registration process.
Associated Guidance
- If you wish to use the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme, you will need to claim using one of the above process. Guidance can be found via the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme page.
- Small gifts of £30 or less can be aggregated together and claimed on a single line of the from. See guidance on Making Aggregated Claims.