You have the bank statement open, a folder of declarations that may or may not be complete, and a rough memory of how last year's claim went. Nobody wrote down the steps. The Charities Online login is somewhere in an old email. Before you go near the claim screens, it helps to know whether anything is missing.
This checklist is for the treasurer doing that job on a Tuesday evening. It covers what to have on the desk, how to sort the gifts, where the gaps usually hide, and what to keep afterwards. It is written with a small charity in mind, such as a church hall group that runs a monthly coffee morning, a few regular giving envelopes and an occasional sponsored walk. The details will differ for your organisation, but the order of work is much the same.
What a claim needs before you start
Each gift you claim needs a valid basis. In most cases that means a Gift Aid declaration from the donor. HMRC expects the declaration to carry the donor's full name and home address, and to say that the donor pays enough income or capital gains tax to cover the tax reclaimed on their gifts. You also need the date and the amount of each gift, and the claim period it falls into.
For each gift, ask yourself three things. Is there a declaration or another valid basis for it? Can I find the name and address on the declaration? Does the date and amount match the bank or cash record? If the answer to any of these is no, that gift is not ready to claim, even if the money is safely in the account.
Put the claim period on the first page of your working file. A claim covers gifts in a defined window, and mixing periods is one of the quickest ways to end up with figures that do not reconcile at the next AGM.
Sorting the gifts by type
HMRC treats different kinds of gift in different ways, so sort them before you add anything up.
Single, enduring and verbal declarations are the most common basis for named donors. A single declaration covers one gift. An enduring declaration covers gifts made over a period, and it usually stays valid until the donor withdraws it. A verbal declaration is one the donor gave by phone or in person, and you need a proper record of it, not a note on the back of an envelope. Keep these in three separate piles so you can see at a glance which donors have which kind.
Sponsored events, such as a sponsored walk or a charity bake sale where people pledge money, need the sponsor's details and the sponsor's own declaration. The money raised is not automatically claimable just because someone wrote a cheque. Check the form each sponsor completed.
Aggregated gifts are small amounts that come in without a name attached, such as a collection at a service or a tin at the door. These are handled differently from named gifts, and the rules are specific. Record how they were collected and when, rather than trying to attach a name to each coin.
Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) covers qualifying small cash donations where you do not have individual declarations. It is a top-up on those donations, subject to HMRC rules and limits. Keep GASDS figures in their own column. They do not replace declarations for named regular gifts, and mixing them up is a common reason a claim needs correcting later.
Spotting gaps before you submit
This is the stage most treasurers rush, and it is where the money is often lost.
Start with missing declarations. Go through your named donors and tick each one off against a declaration you can actually produce. If a donor gave £20 a month for two years and you only have a declaration from the first year, the second year is a gap. Chase it now, while the donor is still on your list.
Next, look for gifts that may not qualify. A gift where the donor receives something in return, such as a ticket to a dinner or a raffle prize, may be treated differently. Anything with a benefit attached needs checking against current HMRC guidance before you claim it in full.
Membership fees need the most care. Many small clubs and charities assume that every membership subscription is claimable, and that is not the case. Whether a membership fee qualifies depends on the benefits members receive in return. Check the membership-benefit rules on GOV.UK before you include any subscription figure in a claim. If you are not sure, leave it out until you have checked.
Once you have worked through these three checks, you will know roughly what you can claim and what you still need to resolve. The gap between what you hoped to claim and what is ready is often the most useful number on the desk.
If you want a rough planning figure before you gather the paperwork, the free Gift Aid gap calculator at https://vasker.co.uk/gift-aid-gap-calculator/ gives an estimate without an account. As an illustration, a small club that has never claimed and has a few thousand pounds of qualifying donations each year could be leaving £500 or more on the table. That is a planning example for a club like yours, not a promise about what you will recover. The calculator produces an estimate for planning, not a claim.
Who sends the claim
The claim is sent by your organisation, using its own Government Gateway login. That login is typed in when you submit, and it is not stored by Vasker. The treasurer or chair sends each claim, so make sure the person who holds the login is part of the process, not someone who has left the committee.
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.
Before you submit, check that the claim totals match the figures on your working file. If something does not reconcile, it is far better to find out now than when HMRC asks a question months later.
What to keep afterwards
HMRC expects Gift Aid records to be kept for at least six years. That includes the declarations, the cash and bank records behind each gift, and a note of what you claimed and when. Put them in a labelled folder or drive, and write the claim period on the front.
On Vasker's Plus plan, the request and response XML from each submission is kept as dispute evidence. That means you can show exactly what was sent and what came back, if a question arises. Keep your own copies of the declarations and the working file regardless of which tool you use.
A note on general information
This checklist is general information for volunteer treasurers. It is not tax advice or legal advice. Gift Aid and GASDS rules change, and the detail of what qualifies depends on your organisation and your donors. Check current guidance on GOV.UK for Gift Aid, GASDS and membership benefits, and check the requirements of your regulator, whether that is the Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI, before you submit. If you are unsure about a particular gift, ask HMRC or a qualified adviser rather than guessing.