A trustee asks at the committee meeting where the declaration is for the donor who gives £20 every month. You remember the previous treasurer had a system. You find an email from two years ago that says the forms are 'in the usual place'. The usual place turns out to be a drawer that was cleared out during a refurbishment.
This is the most common Gift Aid problem for a small charity, and it is rarely about money. It is about records that exist somewhere but cannot be found quickly. This piece sets out a filing plan you can run with a shared drive, a lever-arch file and a spreadsheet. The software comes later, and it is there to support the plan, not replace it.
What HMRC expects you to keep
HMRC expects Gift Aid records to be kept for at least six years. Many treasurers count that from the end of the accounting year the claim relates to, but check current HMRC guidance for when the clock starts and what exactly must be held.
This is general information, not tax advice. For the rules on declarations, claims and repayments, read current HMRC guidance on Gift Aid and Charities Online, and check your Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI guidance for your own organisation.
A plain filing plan you can run without software
Four things need a named home. If you cannot say where each one lives, you cannot find it at the AGM or when someone asks a question.
- Declarations, by donor. One file per donor, held in a folder called 'Gift Aid declarations' on the shared drive, with a paper copy in the blue box file in the treasurer's cupboard. Name each file with a donor reference, not a surname alone.
- A donation log. One spreadsheet tab with the donor reference, date, amount, declaration type and the claim it was included in. This is the link between a gift and a claim. Without it, the declarations are a pile of paper.
- The claim itself. A copy of the claim summary saved in a folder for each financial year, for example 'Claims 2025-26'. Keep the figures exactly as submitted.
- The response from HMRC. Whatever comes back after submission, saved alongside the claim it belongs to, with the date you received it.
If a volunteer can follow that structure, a handover is a matter of pointing at four places. For how to collect declarations in the first place, see our guide on collecting declarations, and for the wider set of steps before a claim goes in, see our Gift Aid checklist. Both cover ground this piece does not repeat.
Which declaration types you may be holding
You may have more than one type in the same folder, and each one asks for different evidence. Check current HMRC guidance for the exact wording required.
- Enduring declarations cover a donor's gifts over a period, and usually continue until the donor cancels. Keep the signed form or a valid electronic record, and note the date it was given.
- Single declarations cover one donation. Keep the form alongside the donation log line for that gift.
- Verbal declarations are given by telephone or in person, and the charity records them. Keep your written record of the donor's name, address, date and confirmation, so you can show what was agreed and when.
A common mistake is to assume that a donor who gave a declaration years ago is still covered. Check what type it was and whether the donor has since cancelled or changed address.
If your organisation takes membership fees, be careful. Membership subscriptions do not automatically qualify for Gift Aid. The rules depend on what the member receives in return, so check the current guidance before you treat any fee as eligible.
Why keep the request and response for every claim
If HMRC asks a question about a claim two years after you sent it, you will need to show what you sent and what came back. Your memory of the figures will not be enough, and neither will a screenshot taken on a phone.
Keep the request and the response for every claim, as they were sent and received. Store them with the claim, in the year folder. If the response shows an error or a partial acceptance, note what you did about it in the same place. That short note often answers the question on its own.
A yearly ten-minute check
Once a year, set aside ten minutes and do this. Pick five donors at random from the donation log. For each one, find the declaration and the claim line that includes their gifts. Time yourself.
If you can find both in under two minutes each, the system is working. If you cannot, the gap is usually in the donation log, where the reference is missing, or in the folder names, which have drifted over the years. Fix it that week, while the detail is still in your head.
The check takes less time than the search it prevents, and it means the next treasurer inherits something they can test.
Where charity Gift Aid software helps
The plan above works without software. Where a tool helps is in the parts that are easy to get wrong by hand: building the claim, checking it before it goes in, and keeping the exchange with HMRC attached to the right year.
On Vasker's Plus plan, which is £119 a year, claims are built with validation, and the request and response XML are retained as evidence if a question comes back. The treasurer or chair still sends each claim with the organisation's own Government Gateway login. Vasker does not store that password. It is typed only at submission and then discarded.
The permitted wording is this: 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 depends on Vasker remaining on HMRC's list, so check the list yourself before you rely on it.
What the arithmetic looks like
As a worked example only: £2,000 of eligible donations from UK taxpayers, each with a valid declaration, produces £500 of Gift Aid at 25p in the pound. That is arithmetic, not a typical result, and it does not describe any particular organisation. Your figure depends on what you received, from whom, and whether the records support it.
If you want a rough sense of what might be sitting unclaimed, the Estimate your Gift Aid gap calculator is free, needs no account and gives an estimate for planning. It is not a claim.