# Gift Aid reclaim period to drop from six to four years

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/04/27/gift-aid-reclaim-period-drop-six-four-years/
- Published: 2009-04-27T10:00:17+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**The six-year period in which charities can reclaim Gift Aid is to be cut by two
years. From 1 April 2010, according to HM Revenue and Customs, charities will be
able to claim Gift Aid on only the past four years of donations by qualifying donors.**

An HMRC spokesman told [Third Sector](http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/news/rss/article/901064/Reclamation-period-Gift-Aid-cut-four-years)
magazine that the change was not targeted at charities but was "part of a review
intended to create a single regime for all direct taxes."

## Advertisement

The magazine quoted Gift Aid specialist Barry Gower of [GAIN](http://www.gain.me.uk)
as saying "This is a wake-up call for charities. They need to check they have reclaimed
all the Gift Aid they’re entitled to."

Unless charities can ensure that they have reclaimed all Gift Aid due to them within
the next 12 months they could start to lose out on Gift Aid they would otherwise
have received after the new regime begins in April next year.

The period from January to April 2010 will become crucial in this regard. The deadline
for claims for donations in the year ended 5 April 2004 will be unchanged at 31 
January 2010. But under the new system the new time limit for claims for donations
in the year ended 5 April 2005 will be two months later on 31 March 2010.

Then claims for donations in the year ended 5 April 2006 will be required **just
one week later** on 5 April 2010. In other words, the final deadlines for two separate
years of Gift Aid reclaims fall within six days of each other!

The key dates for the new system are:

   |  ** Year of claim ** |  ** Old time limit ** |  ** New time limit ** |  
 |   Year ended 5 April 2004 |   31 January 2010 |   31 January 2010 |  
 |   Year ended 5 April 2005  |   31 January 2011 |   31 March 2010  |  
 |   Year ended 5 April 2006  |   31 January 2012  |   5 April 2010 |  
 |   Year ended 5 April 2007  |   31 January 2013  |   5 April 2011 |

 * **[HMRC: salary sacrifice can't be used to donate via payroll giving](https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/09/07/hmrc-salary-sacrifice-can039t-be-used-donate-payroll-giving/)**(
   7 September 2009)
 * **[list of community amateur sports clubs](https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/11/05/list-community-amateur-sports-clubs/)**(
   5 November 2009)
 * **[Record amounts of Gift Aid claimed](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/06/30/record-amounts-gift-aid-claimed/)**(
   30 June 2010)

## Comments

### By: admin

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/04/27/gift-aid-reclaim-period-drop-six-four-years/#comment-3635
- Published: 2009-04-27T10:22:00+01:00

Good to see Barry Gower being quoted in the Third Sector coverage of this development.

Barry will be speaking about this change at UK Fundraising’s ‘Effective and Innovative
Gift Aid’ training course on 5 May in London. There are still places available on
the morning course for charities/voluntary organisations at £65 \+ VAT and commercial/
for-profit companies at £175 \+ VAT at

[http://giftaid.eventbrite.com](http://giftaid.eventbrite.com)