Gift Aid is one of the most valuable tax reliefs available to UK charities — and yet a significant number of churches either don't claim it, or claim less than they're entitled to. Here's what it is, why it matters, and how to stop leaving money on the table.
What is Gift Aid?
Gift Aid is a UK government scheme that allows registered charities — including churches — to reclaim the basic rate of income tax (currently 20%) on eligible donations made by UK taxpayers. Because the basic rate is 20%, this means for every £1 donated, your church can reclaim an extra 25p from HMRC.
A church with £50,000 of eligible annual giving could reclaim up to £12,500 in Gift Aid. That's a free resource for mission — already paid for by your donors.
Who qualifies?
The donor must be a UK taxpayer who has paid (or will pay) at least as much income or capital gains tax in the tax year as the amount reclaimed on their donations. They must make a Gift Aid declaration confirming this (online is fine; it doesn't need a signature) — and that declaration must be kept on record by your church.
Why most churches under-claim
- Declarations collected on paper and then lost or never digitised
- Declarations that are unsigned, undated, or missing address details
- No process to capture declarations from new givers
- One-off donations (cash, bank transfer) with no declaration at all
- Treasurer typing up HMRC claims by hand from incomplete records
Take the paperwork out of it
When giving and Gift Aid declarations live in the same app, a member makes their declaration once, on their phone, and confirms it themselves. It's stored digitally, timestamped, and every eligible gift they make after that is marked for Gift Aid. No paper. No chasing.
The treasurer then exports the eligible gifts in the layout of HMRC's claim schedule and submits the claim through Charities Online. The difference between doing this well and doing it badly is often thousands of pounds per year.
What Aurnet handles for you
- A Gift Aid declaration each member makes once in the app, with the wording and the moment they confirmed it kept on record
- Declarations stored securely against each member record
- Gift Aid status on every gift, and every declaration and cancellation, in the admin dashboard
- An export of Gift Aid-eligible donations in HMRC's schedule layout, ready for your treasurer to submit
If your church is processing more than £5,000 in annual giving, the time to get Gift Aid organised is now — not next year.