Gift Aid

Yes. HMRC could investigate and reject any claim if they think it does meet the requirements.

Claims are selected on a risk basis. If a potential problem with a claim is highlighted at HMRC, it will be passed along for review.

Gift Aid is processed on a pay now check later basis. So a claim might be paid and subject to a check at a later date.

Our new guidance is based on HMRC’s written guidance and has been reviewed by a tax specialist. So as long as you are following it, then there shouldn’t be a problem.

The important thing is that you consider and implement the guidance in a fair and reasonable way, and, if asked, can demonstrate your assessment reflects the guidance.

It is a good idea to keep minutes of any meetings where Gift Aid was discussed and clear documentation of how and why decisions were made, and your justification for these decisions.

If there are any issues, you can contact Making Music for help

Gift Aid works on a self-assessment. Groups are expected to operate within the guidance framework and compile and submit their claim on this basis.

HMRC is unable to approve the basis of claims in advance.

Yes. HMRC have not told us to remove the old guidance. We have updated it because it has not been reviewed since 2012 and we felt it should be reviewed. HMRC would not review it and so we went back to their generic written guidance and received specialist tax advice to produce the new guidance.

We encourage all groups to use the new guidance, and for groups who previously submitted claims based on the old guidance to review their decisions about personal tuition. However, if you have previously claimed under the old guidance and want to continue that way, then you can as this method is not necessarily wrong.

No. If you have already claimed Gift Aid on a payment you cannot claim on it again. 

No. You just submit your claim to HMRC as you normally would. However, as ever you should keep good records of what you have based your claim on, in case HMRC ask.

If you have previously been claiming Gift Aid by saying X amount of the membership fee was personal tuition and claiming on total fee minus X, under the new system you could not claim because if the fee includes any tuition you cannot claim.

However, you could revisit your tuition calculation, as what previously counted as tuition under the old guidance might no longer count as tuition under the new guidance.

Under the new guidance group activities, including rehearsals to play a piece the way the music director/conductor wants, are undertaken in the furtherance of the charitable objectives and would not count as tuition. For something to count as tuition it would have to be more specific one-to-one tuition or group tuition about how to sing or play better or develop specific skills. Any general improvement that might occur through the rehearsal process would not be classed as personal tuition.

This would mean that you could now claim on all of the membership fee (as opposed to fee minus tuition), because the definition of tuition has changed.

No - the benefit rule applies to donations, membership subscriptions are not donations, so the benefit rule does not apply. Find out more about the benefit rule and donations in our How to claim Gift Aid for your group guidance.  

Yes. Higher rate tax payers can reclaim money from HMRC on their self-assessment tax return for any payments they have made where Gift aid has been claimed. See our How to claim Gift Aid for your group guidance for more information 

Yes, any individual whose payments (membership subscriptions or donations) have Gift Aid claimed on them must not pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all their payments (not just ones made to your charity) in that tax year. Otherwise, they will be liable to, and responsible for, repaying any difference to HMRC. 

Yes, just as you would for claiming Gift Aid on a donation the individual has to complete a Gift Aid declaration. See our How to claim Gift Aid for your group guidance for more information.