HMRC have provided confirmation to Cancer Research UK about claims for Gift Aid which clarifies when Gift Aid can be claimed when someone dies. This is relevant as bank accounts are often not closed immediately when someone dies and so gifts from deceased persons can continue after the date of death.

HMRC confirmed that, as expected, a Gift Aid declaration effectively ceases to be valid upon the date of death, the reason being is that for the purposes of Gift Aid donations a person ceases to be an individual from the date of death as all assets become that of the estate with any tax relief afforded to the estate in the form of Inheritance Tax relief.

However, in practice, HMRC understand that charities continue to claim Gift Aid on donations in good faith until such time as they receive notification from the estate of the deceased. In such circumstances there is an expectation that the charity would make an adjustment to refund the monies to HMRC on any donations they have claimed Gift Aid against once informed of the date of death of the donor.

The HMRC position is logical but not spelt out in HMRC guidance as far as we are aware. It can be contrasted with the date of Gift Aid not being eligible to claim from a person becoming a non-taxpayer being the date of notification to the Charity and not the date when that person ceases to be a taxpayer.