How to Register Your Church With HMRC for Gift Aid

Recognition comes before your first claim

Gift Aid is a tax relief, so HMRC has to recognise your church as a charity for tax purposes first. This is separate from registering with the Charity Commission or OSCR.

You can’t claim on gifts received before HMRC recognises your church. So apply early, and start collecting Gift Aid declarations from your first givers while you wait.

Check whether a regulator needs to register you first

HMRC asks for your registration number if a regulator has registered your church. In England and Wales, many churches with an income of £100,000 or less are excepted from registering until 31 March 2031. Excepted churches can still be recognised by HMRC.

In Scotland, every church registers with OSCR. In Northern Ireland, register with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland when it asks you to.

What you’ll need

• your church’s bank account details and its most recent accounts
• your governing document, such as a constitution or trust deed, and the charitable purposes it sets out
• your registration number, if a regulator has registered you
• the names, dates of birth and National Insurance numbers of your officials

The people in charge must be fit and proper

HMRC calls your trustees, and anyone else in control of the money, “managers”. Each one should sign HMRC’s fit and proper persons declaration. It confirms, for example, that they aren’t disqualified from being a trustee.

Keep the signed declarations with your records. Only send them to HMRC if it asks to see them.

Apply online

Use HMRC’s online service to register your charity’s details. You’ll need to sign in, and you can create sign-in details as you go. You can save the form and finish it later.

When HMRC accepts your church, you’ll get an HMRC charities reference. It’s one or two letters followed by up to five numbers, such as AB12345.

Then set up Charities Online

1. Get an HMRC online account, choosing “Charities” as a new user. You’ll need your postcode, your HMRC charities reference and either your customer account number or the last four digits of your bank account.
2. Add the Charities Online service to your account.
3. HMRC posts you an activation code, which takes about a week to arrive. It runs out after 28 days, so enter it as soon as it comes.

You can then send claims using HMRC’s schedule spreadsheet or software. Online claims are usually paid by bank transfer within about four weeks.

How far back you can claim

You have 4 years from the end of the financial period a gift was made in. For a charitable trust, that’s the tax year. For a CIO or charitable company, it’s your accounting period.