Gift Aid
Give £100 to a charity under Gift Aid and the charity claims £25 of basic rate tax from HMRC, so it receives £125. If you pay tax at 40% or 45%, you can claim the difference between your rate and the 20% the charity got: £25 on that gift for a higher rate taxpayer. The catch is that you must have paid enough tax to cover the charity's claim. This page explains the arithmetic, the forms, and the two ways to claim.
You tick a box or sign a Gift Aid declaration for the charity (name, address, and a statement that you are a UK taxpayer). One declaration can cover every gift to that charity, past and future. It is the charity's form, not HMRC's.
Your gift is treated as paid out of income that has already had 20% tax taken off. The charity reclaims that 20% from HMRC: 25p for every £1 you gave, so your £100 becomes £125.
If you pay tax at 40% or 45%, the grossed-up gift extends your basic rate band by the same amount. Income that would have been taxed at your higher rate is taxed at 20% instead: £25 on a £100 gift at 40%, £31.25 at 45%. Scottish taxpayers get the difference from their own rates.
Your Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax for the year must be at least what the charities reclaim. Give more than four times the tax you paid and HMRC can ask you for the shortfall. Retired people and non-taxpayers should tell charities to stop claiming Gift Aid.
On your tax return
Answer Yes to the Gift Aid question on page 3 of Tailor your return and enter the total you actually gave in box 5 of TR4. The return grosses it up itself. The relief shows as a wider basic rate band in your calculation, not as a separate line.
Through your tax code if you do not file
Ask HMRC, by phone, letter or your Personal Tax Account, to include Gift Aid in your tax code. An allowance line appears on your P2 and the relief comes through your pay. For a year that has ended, HMRC recalculates it and repays through a P800.
Earlier years
Relief can be claimed for the previous 4 tax years, on an amended return within the amendment window or by writing to HMRC. On the return you can also elect to treat this year's gifts as made last year, if last year's rate was higher, before you file.
Adjusted net income effects
Gift Aid also lowers your adjusted net income. If you are over £100,000, it restores Personal Allowance the taper took away; if you are over £60,000 with Child Benefit in the household, it cuts the High Income Child Benefit Charge. The calculator counts both.
The charity's own form or online tick box. Keep a note of which charities hold one for you, and tell them if you stop paying enough tax.
Box 5 total gifts paid, box 6 one-off gifts, box 7 gifts carried back to last year, box 8 gifts made after 5 April treated as this year. Walked through below.
If your employer runs a Payroll Giving scheme, donations come off your pay before tax, so full relief is automatic at your own rate and there is nothing to claim. Payroll Giving donations are not Gift Aid and do not go on the return.
Enter your income and what you actually gave in the year. We show what the charity received, whether you can claim more, how much, and whether your tax covers the charity's claim.
Pay, profit, rent, pensions, interest and dividends together. It sets your rate of tax and whether the Personal Allowance taper applies.
What actually left your account, not the grossed-up figure. Only gifts with a Gift Aid declaration.
Page 3 of Tailor your return, then the boxes on TR4, as a list or as they look online.
Charitable giving is one short section of the main return (page TR4 on paper). You enter what you actually gave; the return grosses it up and extends your basic rate band. Three screens online.
Type your donations above and box 5 fills in.
Every box can be typed into, here or on the redrawn screens, and what you type stays in the box while you read the rest.
The charitable giving boxes only appear if you say yes here.
Did you make Gift Aid donations to charity?
Yes. The question is on page 3 of Tailor your return, under reliefs; it opens the charitable giving section.
Enter what you paid, not the grossed-up amount: HMRC adds the 25% itself, so the £0.00 the charity received starts here as what left your account.
Gift Aid payments made in the year to 5 April
Box 5. The total you actually paid to charities under Gift Aid this year, as it left your account. Do not gross it up: the return turns your figure into £0.00 itself.
Total of any one-off payments in box 5
Box 6. The part of box 5 that was one-off rather than a regular monthly gift. HMRC uses it to decide whether to put Gift Aid in your tax code for next year: one-offs are not carried into the code.
Gift Aid payments made in the year but treated as if made in the previous year
Box 7. You can elect to carry this year's gifts back to last year, useful if you paid a higher rate last year, but only on a return sent before the filing deadline and before the previous year's return was submitted.
Gift Aid payments made after 5 April but treated as if made in this year
Box 8. Gifts made after the year ended, before you filed, that you want counted in this year instead. Leave empty unless you have a reason.
Nothing appears as a Gift Aid line. Instead the basic rate band is £0.00 wider, and if you pay higher rate tax the tax due is lower than it would otherwise be.
Check the calculation before you submit
Look for the basic rate band being £0.00 wider than the standard figure. If you are a basic rate taxpayer the tax will not change; that is correct.
The relief shows in your calculation as a wider basic rate band, not as a separate line, so compare the tax with and without the donations if you want to see what it saved. Keep the charities' acknowledgements for six years: HMRC can ask for them.
Gift Aid (GOV.UK)The charity already got the 20%. There is nothing more to claim, and no need to put the gifts on a return unless you are near the Personal Allowance taper or Child Benefit thresholds.
Gift Aid needs a gift. Payments for something in return (raffle tickets, auction items, most entry fees) do not qualify, although many museums and charities structure admission so it does.
Bank statements or the charities' acknowledgements for six years after the return. HMRC can ask for them if it checks the return.