Gift Aid lets eligible charities reclaim tax on qualifying donations. The donor’s declaration and the charity’s claim are separate records. For current eligibility and submission rules, use HMRC’s Gift Aid guidance.
Declarations record donor authority
A declaration identifies an individual donor and captures their name, address, scope, effective date, collection method and tax disclosure. It can cover a single donation, future donations, or past and future donations within the applicable rules.
ThirdSectorBee distinguishes Active, Pending confirmation, Cancelled and Expired declarations. Verbal declarations are created as Pending confirmation; the current declarations page does not provide a confirmation action.
Claims group donations
A claim is a batch for a tax year, with a claim type (Gift Aid or GASDS) and intended submission method. It may contain donations from multiple donors. The claim wizard reviews summary totals and creates a draft; it does not enter or select one donor’s payment.
Eligibility depends on both the declaration and the payment. Check the actual donor details, dates and payment records before relying on a generated batch. In particular, the current claim builder filters the year using when eligibility was checked rather than the payment date.
Export and status are separate from HMRC submission
ThirdSectorBee downloads a CSV schedule. You submit externally and then record the outcome in the application. There is no automatic HMRC submission or response synchronisation. Choosing a paper submission method does not generate a completed paper claim.
The intended lifecycle is Draft → Ready → Submitted, then Paid, Rejected or Under review. Some current page actions do not supply what the API requires, so an authorised administrator or integration maintainer must complete those updates. The how-to guides explain the specific limitations.