A Saturday coffee morning ends with a full tin, a cake table that made more than the raffle, and a carrier bag of clothes that someone donated for the bric-a-brac stall. Afterwards, somebody asks whether any of it can be Gift Aided. Nobody is quite sure, and the treasurer is the one expected to know.
This is the usual position for a small charity with a shop, a stall or an event. The money is real and the paperwork is thin. This post sets out how to tell the different kinds of takings apart, what to write down at each session, and where a gift with a valid declaration can be kept separate so it can feed a claim later.
Three things that end up in the same tin
A single cash tin or till roll usually holds three different things.
- Ordinary sales. Cake, tea, raffle tickets, and items priced on a shelf and bought at the price shown.
- Straight donations. Money someone hands over as a gift, with nothing given in return. A jar labelled for donations is the obvious example, but a note in the tin saying 'for the roof' does not turn it into a donation either. What matters is what the donor is giving and why.
- Donated goods sold on the donor's behalf. A lamp, a box of books or a coat someone gave you to sell. The sale price is what goes in the tin, but the goods were not yours to begin with.
Keeping these three apart on the day is most of the job. Once they are mixed, it is very hard to work out later what could ever have been a gift.
Why sales are not donations
Cash from a sale is not a donation, and it does not become one because the money is going to a good cause. Gift Aid is a relief on donations, so cake sales, raffle tickets, teas and other coffee-morning takings cannot be Gift Aided. A bought cake is a sale, even if every penny goes on the church roof.
Goods sold on a donor's behalf are a separate matter. The proceeds can only lead to Gift Aid through HMRC's Retail Gift Aid Scheme, which has its own conditions, donor agreement and records. Outside that scheme, money from selling donated goods cannot be Gift Aided, so do not assume that tin cash from a bric-a-brac stall qualifies simply because it came from donated items.
This is general information, not tax advice. Check current HMRC guidance on Gift Aid and on any scheme for donated goods before you rely on either, and talk to your Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI contact if you are unsure how the rules apply to your charity.
What to record each session
Whoever counts the takings should write down the same few things every time. A paper sheet in the cash box is fine. A spreadsheet is fine. What matters is that the record exists and that it is kept with the paying-in slip.
| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| Date and event | The date and what it was, for example 'coffee morning, church hall' |
| Who counted | Two names if possible, so the count is checked |
| Total | The till or tin total, before any float is taken out |
| Split by type | Sales, straight donations and donated-goods sales, as separate lines |
| Banked | Which account, the date paid in, and the paying-in reference |
The split by type is the line most often missing. If the tin is counted as one figure, you cannot later show which part was a gift. Ask for the split at the time, even if it is a rough estimate with a note saying so.
Keep the float separate. Notes and coins you started with are not takings. Record the opening float and the closing float so the net figure can be checked against the bank.
Keeping gifts apart for a claim
Where a donor does give a gift and is a UK taxpayer who has completed a valid Gift Aid declaration, that gift needs its own line. It should not sit inside a general 'donations' total with the raffle money.
For each gift, keep the date, the amount, the donor's name and address as they appear on the declaration, the type of declaration (enduring, single or verbal), and a note of where the declaration is held. A gift without a valid declaration cannot be claimed on the Gift Aid scheme, however generous it was.
Small cash donations without individual declarations follow different rules, including the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS), which has its own caps and conditions. That is a separate topic from a coffee morning sale, so keep those lines separate too.
What the arithmetic looks like
Here is the sum, and only the sum. If your charity received £2,000 of eligible donations from UK taxpayers with valid declarations, Gift Aid at 25p in the pound would be £500. That is £2,000 multiplied by 0.25.
This is a worked example, not a typical result. All of the £2,000 in this example would have to be eligible donations with valid declarations behind them. Sales, unclaimed goods proceeds and cash without declarations would not count towards it. The current rate is the basic-rate relief shown in HMRC guidance, so check it there before you plan around it.
Where Vasker fits
Vasker's cash book (available on the Free plan for one fund, and on Standard for full books) lets you record each session with the split by type, the count and the banking. The cash book needs a connection to work, so do it when you have one.
The Plus plan (£119 a year) adds the Gift Aid side. It holds declarations, builds the claim with validation, and keeps the request and response XML as evidence if HMRC asks a question later. The treasurer or chair sends the claim with the organisation's own Government Gateway login. Vasker does not store that password. The sender ID and password are typed in at submission and are then discarded.
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.
Vasker does not decide what counts. It keeps the lines apart so the treasurer can decide with the records in front of them, and so the claim can be checked before it is sent. Keep HMRC's current list in view, as the listing can change.
If you are not yet sure whether the gift line is worth chasing, the Estimate your Gift Aid gap tool is free and needs no account. It gives a rough estimate for planning, not a claim.
Pre-claim checklist for the shop or coffee morning treasurer
Before anyone builds a claim from a coffee morning or a shop, check the following.
- Each session has a date, a name against the count, and a total before the float was removed.
- Sales, straight donations and donated-goods sales are on separate lines.
- Every gift you want to claim has a valid declaration on file, from a UK taxpayer.
- Declarations are not reused from a previous year without the donor's knowledge, and the donor's details match the declaration.
- Donated goods sales are only treated as gifts where they were sold under the Retail Gift Aid Scheme, with its agreements and records in place.
- Cake, tea, raffle and other sales takings are kept out of the Gift Aid total.
- Cash without declarations has been kept out of the Gift Aid total and considered separately under GASDS rules.
- The paying-in slips and bank entries match the recorded totals.
- You have noted the date you last checked HMRC's guidance and the Charities Online rules.
This is general information for volunteer treasurers, not legal, tax or accounting advice. Check current HMRC Charities Online, Gift Aid and GASDS guidance, and the Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI guidance for your own organisation.