The claim is ready. The figures reconcile, the declarations are filed, and the total is sitting in the tool. Then someone asks who can send it to HMRC, and the answer is a name that left the committee two years ago, attached to a Government Gateway login that nobody has opened since.
This happens more often than most treasurers admit. A village hall charity might have had its Charities Online set up by a trustee who has since moved away. A community amateur sports club (CASC) might have a login tied to a former chair's personal email. The claim work is done, but the sending step is stuck.
This article is about that sending step. It covers what Charities Online needs from your organisation, how a claim tool differs from the person who sends the claim, and what Vasker does and does not store.
What Charities Online needs from the organisation
Charities Online is HMRC's online service for Gift Aid and charity repayment claims. To use it, your organisation needs its own Government Gateway user ID and password, and the service needs to be linked to your charity or club's registration. The login should belong to the organisation, not to one volunteer's personal account.
In practice, that means the treasurer or the chair holds the login. Ideally two named people know how to get into it. Write down which email address the Government Gateway account uses, where the recovery questions are kept, and which phone number receives any verification codes. If those details live only in one person's head, the claim will wait until that person can be found.
A software supplier does not need to hold your Government Gateway login to be useful. Your organisation keeps its own login and controls it.
How a claim tool and the sender differ
A claim tool and the person who sends the claim do two different jobs.
The tool builds the claim from your records. It checks the data against the rules before anything leaves your hands. It flags a donor record with a missing name or a declaration date that falls outside the period, and it keeps a copy of what was built.
The sender is the named person who submits the claim to HMRC through Charities Online. That person uses the organisation's own login, and their name goes on the submission. The sender is accountable for the claim being sent, so the committee should agree who that is and who the backup is.
Keeping these roles apart is the simplest way to avoid trouble later. The tool does not replace the person, and the person does not need to re-key the figures by hand.
What Vasker does on Plus
On the Plus plan, Vasker covers the Gift Aid and GASDS claim work from start to finish. It records enduring, single and verbal declarations, and it handles individual, sponsored-event, aggregated and Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) small donations. It builds the claim with validation, adds the IRmark, and keeps the request and response XML as evidence if a claim is ever questioned.
The retained XML matters for a small charity or club because a dispute can arrive long after the treasurer has moved on. Having the exact file that was sent, and the response HMRC returned, means the next volunteer does not have to reconstruct the claim from memory.
GASDS is a top-up on qualifying small cash donations without individual declarations. It is subject to HMRC rules and caps. It does not replace declarations for named regular gifts, and collecting-tin cash does not always qualify. Check the current rules before you assume a figure is claimable.
What Vasker does not do
Vasker does not store Government Gateway passwords. The sender ID and password are typed only at the point of claim submission, and they are discarded afterwards. You are not handing a password to a software supplier to keep on file.
Every Vasker account uses two-factor authentication, which adds a second check on top of the password. Your organisation still needs its own Government Gateway login and its own named sender. Vasker does not take over that responsibility.
HMRC and Vasker
Vasker is listed by HMRC as commercial software for filing Gift Aid and charity repayment claims online through Charities Online. HMRC does not endorse or approve any software supplier.
That listing is the only statement about HMRC and Vasker that should be relied on, and it stays true only while Vasker remains on HMRC's list. Check the list before you decide, as it can change. Listing does not mean HMRC has checked the figures in any claim, and it does not guarantee that a claim will be accepted.
A short checklist for the committee
Before the next claim, agree these points at a committee meeting and minute them:
- Who holds the login: name the treasurer or chair, and confirm the Government Gateway account is in the organisation's name.
- Where the recovery details sit: record the email address, phone number and recovery answers in a secure place the committee can reach, not in one inbox.
- Who is the named backup: name a second trustee or committee member who can sign in and send the claim if the main sender cannot.
- Who receives the response: confirm which email address receives HMRC's acknowledgements, and check that it is monitored.
- Where the claim copy is kept: keep the submitted claim and the response with the Gift Aid declarations, for at least six years.
Before you decide on tooling
If the committee is still weighing whether claim tooling is worth £119 a year on Plus, estimate your Gift Aid gap first. The calculator is free, needs no account, and gives a rough planning figure. It is not a claim, and it does not show what HMRC will pay.
This is general information for UK volunteer treasurers, not tax advice. Check current HMRC Charities Online, Gift Aid and GASDS guidance before you send any claim, and check the rules set by the Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI for your organisation.