Charities online take-up less than expected
A new system for charities called Charities Online went live on 22 April 2013. The new online system replaces the R68(i) Gift Aid and tax repayments claims form. Charities that submit claims online are usually paid within 3 working days compared to 26 days using the old paper form. From the end of this month, HMRC will stop accepting Gift Aid repayment claims on R68i forms and charities will be required to use the Charities Online service to make claims.
A recent seminar of the Charity Tax Group seminar heard that to date only about one quarter of the 120,000 charities registered for Gift Aid have signed up to the new service. HMRC had hoped that more charities would have signed up by now but noted that many charities only make one claim per year and many of those made their annual claim before the transitional period ended. However, HMRC were clear that there will be no extension to the deadline except in extreme cases.
Charities that still need to register should do so as soon as possible as it can take up to 15 working days for an application to use the Charities Online system to be processed. A paper form (ChR1) is available for charities without access to the internet to submit a claim. The form replaces the R68(i) form.