Not all payments you receive are eligible for Gift Aid. HMRC have specific rules that determine whether a payment is eligible for Gift Aid, or not.
Beacon only adds eligible payments to claims, so it's important to make sure that payments are stored correctly in Beacon to maximise the amount of Gift Aid you can claim.
Donations
For regular donations, donated by a person directly to your charity, a payment is eligible for Gift Aid if:
The payment is Gift Aid-able:
Type (should be one of the allowed types)
Gift Aid allowed? (checked)
Payment date (is set)
Amount (is set)
Linked to a person
The payer is a person has the required info:
First & last name
Address (address line one & postcode)
The payer has a valid Gift Aid declaration:
Start date (is set)
Declaration date (is set)
Confirmed (checked)
Cancelled (not checked)
Payment date should be after the declaration start date
Sponsored payments
For sponsored payments, the exact same criteria applies as regular donations, except that payment is submitted to HMRC providing the fundraiser's details and declaration - not the individual donors. As such, a payment is eligible if:
The payment is Gift Aid-able:
Type (should be one of the allowed types)
Gift Aid allowed? (checked)
Payment date (is set)
Amount (is set)
Linked to a fundraiser
Sponsorship (checked)
The fundraiser has the required info:
First & last name
Address (address line one & postcode)
The fundraiser has an valid Gift Aid declaration:
Start date (is set)
Declaration date (is set)
Confirmed (checked)
Cancelled (not checked)
Payment date should be after the declaration start date
Sponsorship (checked)
Small donations
Small donations can be claimed through Gift Aid for donations under £30, donated via cash or contactless credit card.
Unlike regular donations, you do not need to provide full donor information or Gift Aid declarations to claim on small donations.
A payment will be automatically added to a Gift Aid claim as a small donation if the payment is Gift Aid-able:
Type (should be one of the allowed types)
Gift Aid allowed? (checked)
Payment method (should be cash or contactless payment)
Payment date (for contactless payments, should be after 5th April 2017)
Amount
Small donation (checked)
Note: You can claim on a maximum of £8,000 in small donations in a single tax year (equating to £2,000 in Gift Aid). Beacon does not check this for you.