Charities Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS)

Under the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS), a charity or community amateur sports club (CASC) can claim top-up payments on small donations up to £20.

From 6 April 2017, charities have also been able to claim tax back on donations made using contactless technology, such as a contactless credit or debit card.

Before 6 April 2017, charities could only claim top-up payments on small cash donations. Cash donations can be in coins or notes that have been collected and banked in the UK. The charity does not need to know the identity of the donors or collect Gift Aid declarations.

GASDS claims are worked out in the same way as Gift Aid. If the basic rate of Income Tax is 20%, the charity can claim a GASDS top-up payment of £2,000 on up to £8,000 worth of small donations. This is limited to 10 times the amount that the charity receives in Gift Aid donations that tax year.  Please note that the new Scottish tax rates will not affect the gift aid relief that charities can claim.  This will continue to be equal to the rest of the UK basic rate of tax.

If you are a charity and would like to discuss this in more detail, please do not hesitate to contact us on 0131 317 7377 when you will be put through to one of our charity team members.