Before you start
- Your charity or community amateur sports club (CASC) must be recognised as a charity for tax purposes by HMRC (how to apply).
- You need a valid Gift Aid declaration for each donation you claim. See Gift Aid declarations.
- You can claim for up to 1,000 donations on each schedule spreadsheet (GOV.UK, Claim Gift Aid online).
1. Register for Charities Online
If you do not already have an HMRC Online Services account, HMRC's guidance says to register, choose "organisation", then "charities". You will need your charity's:
- postcode
- HMRC reference (up to 5 numbers, starting with 1 or 2 letters)
- customer account number (add a zero to the start if it has 9 digits), or the last 4 digits of your bank account number if HMRC recognised you before April 2013
You then get a 12 digit user ID on screen. Keep it and your password safe.
2. Activate the service
HMRC posts you an activation code. It takes around a week to arrive and you must use it within 28 days. Log in, choose "activate service" next to Charities, and enter the code.
3. Prepare your schedule spreadsheet
Download HMRC's template, fill in one line per donation and save it as .ods without renaming the worksheet. See how to fill in the schedule and the errors checklist.
4. Start the claim
- Sign in and go to "Services you can use".
- Choose "access service" next to Charities, then "make a charity repayment claim", and answer the questions about your claim.
- On the "About the organisation" page, HMRC says only charities managed by a trust company, a trust corporation or the trust department of a bank should answer yes to "Are you a corporate trustee?".
5. Attach the schedule
On the "repayment claim details" page, attach your saved schedule with "browse" or "choose file".
6. Check and submit
- The claim is complete when every stage shows a green tick on the "repayment claim summary" page. Choose "next" to reach the declaration page and finish.
- When you submit, you see the date and time it was sent and a reference number. Note the reference. HMRC says it is not a confirmation of payment.
- You can save an unfinished claim and come back to it within 30 days.
- You can only have one online claim open at a time. Submit it before you start the next.
When you will be paid
HMRC's guide says you will get a Gift Aid payment by BACS within 4 weeks if you claimed online. Contact the HMRC Charities helpline if your repayment is wrong or you submitted an incorrect claim.
Other ways to claim
You can also claim through software that sends claims to Charities Online, or by post on form ChR1. See R68, ChR1 and the ways to claim.
Donor Schedule prepares the schedule in step 3 from your CSV export. You still register, attach the file and submit the claim yourself.
Sources: Claim tax back on donations using Charities Online, Claim Gift Aid online and Claiming Gift Aid: how to claim, all on GOV.UK.
This page is general guidance based on HMRC's published guidance on GOV.UK, linked above, checked on 21 October 2026. It is not tax advice, and HMRC's own pages take priority if they change. Donor Schedule is not affiliated with HMRC.
Let the free checker find these for you
Load your donation export and see the rows that break HMRC's schedule rules, with the reason and the fix. Nothing is uploaded, and you don't need an account.