It is September. The new treasurer of a small community amateur sports club (CASC) opens the folder her predecessor left behind. Last year's Gift Aid claim went in, the bank shows the money arriving, and then HMRC writes asking about a batch of donations from two years ago. The declarations are nowhere in the folder. The outgoing treasurer has moved to another town and is not answering email. The Charities Online login is held by someone who left the committee in the spring.
This is the most common way Gift Aid records go wrong. Nobody was careless. The records simply lived with one person, and when that person stepped down, they went with them.
Which records sit behind a claim
A Gift Aid claim is only as good as the paperwork underneath it. There are four parts you need to be able to produce.
The first is the declarations. These are the statements donors have made that they pay UK income tax or capital gains tax equal to the tax reclaimed on their gifts. There are three types: enduring declarations, which cover regular gifts over several years; single declarations, which cover one gift; and verbal declarations, where a donor has said yes on the phone or in person and you have noted it. Each one needs to show the donor's name, address, and the gift or gifts it covers.
The second is the donation list. This is the record of who gave what and when, matched to the declaration that covers it. A bank statement showing a transfer is not enough on its own, because it does not tell HMRC which donor the money came from or whether that donor has made a declaration.
The third is the claim itself: the batch of eligible gifts you submitted, with the totals and the date you sent it.
The fourth is any response from HMRC. That includes the acknowledgement of your claim, and any letter or query that followed.
If you can find all four for every claim, you can answer almost any question HMRC is likely to ask. If one is missing, the question becomes much harder.
How long to keep them
HMRC expects Gift Aid records to be kept for at least six years. That period is the minimum. It is not a reason to tidy the cupboard after five years and eleven months.
The practical point is that six years is longer than most volunteer terms. A treasurer who serves two or three years will hand over at least one set of records that still needs to be available after they have gone. The records therefore have to belong to the organisation, not to the person who happened to be holding them.
Check current HMRC guidance on Gift Aid record keeping before you set your own rules. The period, and what HMRC expects you to keep, can be clarified in guidance, and your organisation's own governing document or regulator may add requirements of its own.
What a claim tool should keep so the next person can answer a query
A spreadsheet can hold donation lists. It is much weaker at keeping the link between a declaration, the donation it covers, and the claim that went to HMRC. That link is what the next treasurer needs when a query arrives.
A claim tool should keep three things together. First, the declaration linked to each donor, so you can see which statement covers which gift without searching through a folder. Second, the claim as it was built, including the gifts included and the totals. Third, the request and response messages exchanged with HMRC, kept as evidence if a claim is disputed.
On Vasker's Plus plan, Gift Aid claims are built with validation, and the request and response XML is retained as dispute evidence. That means the record of what was sent and what came back stays with the organisation's account, not in one person's email. Plus is £119 a year. The Free plan is £0 and covers a starter cash book with one fund, but it does not include Gift Aid claim tooling. Standard, at £59 a year, covers full books, members, subscriptions, reports and grant matching.
Whichever tool you use, test it before you need it. Ask yourself whether a stranger could open the account and find the declaration behind a specific gift from last year without asking you.
Where Gift Aid records usually go missing
In most small organisations, the same three places account for the lost records.
The first is a personal email folder. Declarations were scanned and emailed to the treasurer, or donors replied to a message sent from the treasurer's own address. When the role changes hands, those emails stay in an inbox that the next person cannot open.
The second is a leaver's laptop. The spreadsheet of donors was saved on a computer that has since been wiped, replaced, or taken home by someone who has moved on.
The third is a paper box in a loft or a cupboard in the church hall. Declarations were filed in envelopes by date, the envelopes were boxed, and the box was never labelled.
None of these is unusual. Each one is fixable before the handover, if you look for them now.
End-of-term checklist for the outgoing treasurer
If you are handing over this year, work through this list before your last committee meeting.
- Locate every declaration for the gifts in your most recent claims, and note where each one is kept.
- Record the date of your last Gift Aid claim and the reference or batch details, if you have them.
- Note who holds the Charities Online login for the organisation, and make sure at least one other committee member knows how to use it. Write down the name of the account holder, not the password.
- Move any records from personal email or personal devices into a folder the organisation controls.
- Label the paper box with the years it covers and where it is stored.
- Write a one-page note for your successor covering the claim process, the bank account, and any HMRC correspondence that is still open.
Do not write passwords down in the handover note. Share them, if at all, through the organisation's own password arrangements, and only with the people who need them.
What Vasker does with Government Gateway passwords
Claims to HMRC through Charities Online are sent with the organisation's own Government Gateway login. Vasker does not store Government Gateway passwords. The sender ID and password are typed only at the point of claim submission and then discarded. That means handing over the account does not mean handing over a stored password, and the next treasurer will still need to know who holds the login and how to access it.
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.
General information, not tax advice
This article is general information for volunteer treasurers. It is not tax advice or legal advice. Gift Aid rules, declaration wording, and record-keeping expectations can change. Check current HMRC guidance on Gift Aid and on keeping records, and check the guidance from your own regulator (the Charity Commission, OSCR, or CCNI, depending on where you are) for your organisation.
Estimate your Gift Aid gap
Before you decide how much time the records are worth tidying, it helps to know what is at stake. The Gift Aid gap calculator gives a rough planning estimate of what a few thousand pounds of unclaimed donations could be worth. It is free, needs no account, and produces an estimate for planning, not a claim. For a small club that has never claimed, the planning figure is often in the region of £500 a year, but your own number will depend on your donations and declarations.