What the template is
HMRC's Gift Aid donations schedule is the spreadsheet a charity or community amateur sports club (CASC) attaches to a Gift Aid repayment claim in Charities Online. It lists the donations you are claiming on, one line each. HMRC publishes it as an OpenDocument spreadsheet (.ods), a free format that Microsoft Excel and LibreOffice can both open.
You do not post the schedule or email it. You fill it in, save it on your computer and attach it to the online claim form (Claim tax back on donations using Charities Online).
Where to download it
The only official source is the GOV.UK page Gift Aid schedule spreadsheets to claim back tax on donations. It lists several schedules. For Gift Aid you need one of these two:
| File on GOV.UK | Use it if you have | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gift Aid donations schedule, Excel | Microsoft Excel | Still an .ods file, not .xlsx. Last updated by HMRC in August 2024. |
| Gift Aid donations schedule, LibreOffice | LibreOffice (free, for Windows, Mac and Linux) | Last updated by HMRC in April 2019. |
The same page also has GASDS community buildings, GASDS connected charities and "other income" schedules. Those are for different claims, so do not use them for Gift Aid donations. HMRC also publishes Welsh versions; the worksheet in those ends in CY rather than EN.
Pick the version for your software
HMRC's guidance is firm on this (Schedule spreadsheet guidance, "Get the right software"):
- If you use Excel, download the Excel version and make sure your computer uses English (UK). You can check under File, Options, Languages.
- If you use LibreOffice, download the LibreOffice version and the English (GB) version of LibreOffice. You can check under Tools, Options, Languages. Mac users may need to install English (GB) from the LibreOffice website.
- Do not download the LibreOffice spreadsheet and convert it to Excel, or the other way round. HMRC says you may have problems if you do.
- Other programs that open .ods files may not let you attach the schedule to your claim, or let you view it in Charities Online. Google Sheets and Apple Numbers are not on HMRC's list.
How the template is laid out
Open the file and you will see, from the top:
- "Get it right first time" instructions from HMRC.
- Fig. 1, four example rows showing a normal donation, an overseas donor, an aggregated line and a sponsored event.
- Box 1: the earliest donation date in the period of the claim, as DD/MM/YY. For aggregated donations this date may be earlier than any date in the table.
- Box 2: any amount over-claimed on an earlier claim. Enter the tax, not the donation, and leave it blank if there is none. HMRC deducts it from this claim.
- Total donations, which the sheet works out for you from the Amount column.
- The donations schedule table, with numbered item rows 1 to 1,000.
The worksheet tab at the bottom is called R68GAD_V1_00_0_EN. Charities Online looks for that name, so never rename it (more on the worksheet name).
What each column means
These are the template's own column notes, with the extra rules from HMRC's guidance.
| Column | What to enter | Rules |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr and so on | Up to 4 characters. Leave blank if you do not have one. |
| First name | The donor's first name or initial | Up to 35 characters, no spaces. An initial is allowed. |
| Last name | The donor's surname | Up to 35 characters. For a double-barrelled surname, use a space instead of the hyphen. HMRC recommends full names to help it identify donors. |
| House name or number | The house name or number of the address where the donor lives | Up to 40 characters. Not a work address or a "care of" address. For donors living abroad, enter their address here. |
| Postcode | The UK postcode | Capital letters with a space, for example S19 2BD. For donors living abroad, enter X. |
| Aggregated donations | A short description for a line that adds together small donations, such as "Thursday club donors" | Up to 35 characters. Leave blank on normal lines. Do not enter Yes or "Not applicable". |
| Sponsored event | Yes, for a sponsored event line | Yes or blank. Nothing else. |
| Donation date | The date the donation was received, or the latest date in a series | DD/MM/YY, for example 24/03/25. No hyphens or full stops. |
| Amount | The donation, or the total for the line | Two decimal places and no £ sign, for example 200.00. |
If a column does not apply, leave it blank. Do not type N/A or Nil.
Donors who live outside the UK
Treat donors who live outside the UK as non-resident. This includes the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, and HMRC says not to include postcodes for addresses there. Put the address in the house column and X in the postcode column. HMRC's guidance, updated in November 2025, asks for full details for these donors: house number or name, street, city, region, postcode or zip code, and country.
Aggregated and sponsored lines
An aggregated line adds together donations of £20 or less from different donors. HMRC's guidance says the line cannot total more than £1,000 and the template says less than £1,000, so keep each line under £1,000. It cannot include donations linked to admission to a charity visitor attraction, and should not carry donor names or addresses. Enter the date of the last donation and the total. One bullet on HMRC's guidance page still says "under £30", left over from a 2019 change that was reversed; the template and the rest of HMRC's guidance say £20.
A sponsored event line carries the participant's name and address, Yes in the sponsored event column, the date the money was received and the total raised. Any single donation over £500 must go on its own line as a normal Gift Aid donation, without Yes. See aggregated and sponsored donations.
Row limits per schedule
One schedule holds up to 1,000 donation lines. HMRC says that if you go over the maximum, the extra lines will not be attached to your claim, so those donations are left out of it.
If you have more, HMRC's schedule guidance says you can submit as many online claims as you like, for example 1,600 donations as two claims of 800. You must complete and submit one online claim before you start the next, and you can save an unfinished claim for up to 30 days (Charities Online guidance). HMRC's shorter "How to claim" page puts it differently, saying that for claims of over 1,000 donations you must use software (How to claim). Claims sent from your own Gift Aid database can include up to 500,000 donors, one claim a day.
You can often save lines legitimately. Regular donations from one donor in the same accounting period can share one line, dated with the latest donation. Small donations of £20 or less can be aggregated. See the 1,000 row limit.
Common reasons a schedule fails
These are the problems HMRC's guidance and the template itself warn about:
| Problem | What happens or what HMRC says |
|---|---|
| The worksheet tab was renamed | You will not be able to attach the schedule to the online form. |
| Saved as .xlsx or .csv, or the .ods ending was changed | You may have problems uploading it. The template says save it as .ods, not .xlsx. |
| Data copied and pasted in from another spreadsheet | A common cause of errors beginning "ASM". See ASM errors. |
| Blank spaces before or after an entry | HMRC's first check for other system errors. See blank spaces. |
| Layout changed, or blank rows between donations | The template says not to change the layout or leave blank rows. |
| N/A, Nil or Yes in the wrong column | Leave unused cells blank. Yes only belongs in the sponsored event column. |
| Dates with hyphens or full stops, or amounts with a £ sign | Use DD/MM/YY and plain numbers with two decimal places. See dates. |
| Postcode missing, in lower case or without a space | UK donors need house name or number and postcode. See postcodes. |
| Template converted between Excel and LibreOffice | HMRC says you may have problems. |
| More than 1,000 lines | Lines over the limit are not attached. |
For a full pre-upload list, see the errors checklist. For a step-by-step walkthrough, see how to fill in the HMRC Gift Aid schedule spreadsheet.
Questions people ask
Is there an Excel (.xlsx) version of the Gift Aid schedule?
No. HMRC's "Excel" version is an .ods file that Excel can open. The template tells you to save it as .ods, not as an .xlsx file.
How many donations can one Gift Aid schedule hold?
Up to 1,000 lines. HMRC says lines over the maximum will not be attached to your claim.
Can I rename the schedule file?
Yes, the file name is up to you, for example Gift Aid Jan 2026.ods, as long as it still ends in .ods. Do not rename the worksheet tab, R68GAD_V1_00_0_EN.
Should I use the Excel or the LibreOffice template?
Use the one that matches the program you will fill it in with, and do not convert one into the other.
What goes in Box 2?
The tax you over-claimed on an earlier claim, not the donation. Leave it blank if there is none.
Sources
Every rule on this page comes from these GOV.UK pages and HMRC's template, checked on 24 October 2026:
- Gift Aid schedule spreadsheets to claim back tax on donations (downloads)
- Schedule spreadsheet to claim back tax on Gift Aid donations (guidance, last updated 28 November 2025)
- Claim tax back on donations using Charities Online
- Claiming Gift Aid as a charity or CASC: how to claim
This page is general guidance based on HMRC's published guidance, checked on 24 October 2026. It is not tax advice, and HMRC's own pages take priority if they change. Donor Schedule is not affiliated with HMRC.
If your donations are already in a spreadsheet or a CSV export, Donor Schedule can check each row against these rules and fill in HMRC's template for you.