HMRC has set ‘claiming windows’ for going back in time to make claims on past donations. The windows for donations under Gift Aid are different to those for the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS).
Gift Aid
This is based on a charity’s accounting year. For Anglican and Baptist churches, this is always 01 January – 31 December, the calendar year.
Accounting years for charitable trusts always run with the tax year, 06 April to 05 April.
Claims must be made within four years of the end of the accounting year you received the donation in. This is sometimes more easily remembered as ‘four accounting years plus the current one’.
As an example, for a donation received in October 2015 for an Anglican parish. The end of the year in which the donation was received would be 31 December 2015. Four accounting years after that is 31 December 2019. This is the window available.
Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme
This works in a similar way but is always tied to the tax year, 06 April to 05 April and is only a two year window. However, the two years only starts at the end of the tax year in which the donation was received.
Therefore, an October 2015 donation can be claimed on until 05 April 2018.