The Charities Outreach Team which was set up by HMRC aims to provide help and support to charities, and enable them to understand, benefit and claim reliefs through Gift Aid, the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) and the Employment Allowance. The Team have published useful feedback on the recurrent errors identified from claim forms which included the following:
- incorrect authorised official / agent / nominee submitting the claim as the charity had failed to complete and submit to HMRC a change of details form
- claiming amounts in excess of the maximum specified amounts under the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme
- out of date claims under the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme – charities can only claim back for the previous two years, compared with four years under Gift Aid
- errors completing a paper claim form such as providing additional correspondence which is not required or missing information
- non-qualifying donations such as out of date or joint donations.
A dedicated phone line for the Outreach Team is planned, but charities can access team members by calling the HMRC Charities Helpline on 0300 123 1073 and asking to be forwarded to the Outreach Team.
