Currently a donor has to complete a Gift Aid declaration (GAD) each time they give to a new charity when giving through an intermediary. This is one of the contributing factors that has restricted the take up of Gift Aid when donating through digital channels. The new process allows a donor to give permission to an intermediary to create GADs on their behalf for all subsequent donations made in that tax year.It is hoped that this will lead to Gift Aid being claimed on a greater proportion of eligible donations and more tax relief going to charities.

CTG responded to HMRC’s technical consultation on Gift Aid and Intermediaries earlier this year. CTG welcomed the Government’s commitment to simplifying these rules but we made clear the importance of practical implications for charities being proportionate, and the user journey being simple and not confusing for donors. For this reason, CTG believe that the Annual Statement should be made optional or apply only to donors making more frequent or larger donations, and that there should be a passive rather than positive confirmation process for charities confirming Gift Aid eligibility each year. While we are confident that the new rules will work well overall for online platforms, we believe that further targeted work is needed to improve the process for claiming Gift Aid on SMS-giving. We also encourage the Government to give serious consideration to broadening the applicability of the rules to allow a single Gift Aid declaration to be applicable to all intermediaries and consider the long-term viability of introducing changes that are consistent with the aspirations of having a Universal Gift Aid Declaration Database.

Legislation in Finance Acts 2015 and 2016 allows a greater role for intermediaries. Detailed regulations providing for that greater role will be made and laid shortly and will come into force on 6 April 2017.

No summary of consultation responses has been published yet although it appears that HMRC is planning to continue with the regulations as outlined in the consultation document. CTG will continue to press HMRC to consider the practical implications for charities.