How Gift Aid declarations work
A Gift Aid declaration lets your mosque reclaim the basic-rate tax a UK taxpayer has already paid on a donation: 25p for every GBP 1, which Masjidbox calculates at 25%. This article explains what a declaration is, which donations qualify, how donors declare, and how the Gift Aid records are tracked.
What Gift Aid is
Gift Aid is a UK scheme that lets a charity claim back from HMRC the basic-rate tax a UK taxpayer has already paid on a donation. Masjidbox calculates the claim at 25%: 25p can be reclaimed for every GBP 1 donated. It does not cost the donor extra, as long as they have paid enough income or capital gains tax.
Which donations qualify
A donation can be claimed only when Masjidbox has verified four conditions, and HMRC's own legal conditions are also met. Masjidbox checks that:
the campaign has Gift Aid turned on,
the payment succeeded,
there is a declaration with a title, first name, last name, house number and a UK postcode,
the donation is not fully refunded. A partially refunded donation is claimed on the net amount, the part that was not refunded.
The donation must also be less than 4 years old, and "Sponsored" donations are capped at GBP 500 each.
Card, online, recurring and terminal donations all qualify. Terminal donations qualify through the QR code the donor scans after their tap. Cash does not qualify: cash cannot be entered in Masjidbox, either for Gift Aid or for the Small Donations Scheme (GASDS).
Auto-Claim versus claiming manually
Auto-Claim submits your Gift Aid claims to HMRC automatically, and it is only for registered charities. Setting it up requires an HMRC charity reference in the format AB12345, a charity name, and a regulator with a registration number (the regulator can be set to "not registered"). Setup and the weekly submission schedule are covered in Set up Gift Aid auto-claim (UK).
A mosque that is not registered with the Charity Commission cannot use Auto-Claim, but it can still claim: download the Gift Aid export from Donations > Gift Aid > Overview (a CSV in HMRC's spreadsheet format) and submit its claim to HMRC itself. Whether a mosque is eligible for Gift Aid at all is HMRC's decision.
One declaration per donation
Each one-time donation needs its own Gift Aid declaration. The only exception is a recurring donation: a declaration made on a monthly recurring donation applies to every future payment of that subscription, which is the only case where one declaration covers several donations.
A donor who taps the terminal every Friday therefore has to declare every Friday. If they want to declare once and give regularly, they can set up a weekly or monthly recurring donation instead and make a single declaration that covers every payment.
How donors declare
Donors can declare Gift Aid in three places, and the declaration asks for the same details each time: title, first name, last name, email, house number and postcode.
Online at checkout. The donation form includes a Gift Aid option.
After a terminal tap. The donor scans the QR code shown after the payment and fills in the Gift Aid form. See What donors see on a donation terminal for the donor's side of this flow.
In the donor portal. Donating there shows a Gift Aid switch, and eligible past donations show a "Declare" button. A declaration made on a monthly donation covers all its future payments.
A donor can also declare before donating: once they have declared in the donor portal, their address is saved on their profile and reused for later donations. Each donation still needs Gift Aid ticked, because the declaration alone does not apply it automatically.
Overseas donors are the one case an admin handles: they can only be added or corrected by an admin in the edit form on the Gift Aid record.
Gift Aid records and statuses
Every donation gets one Gift Aid record. It holds a copy of the donor's details and a full edit history, and it follows the HMRC claim status. A record can be pending, invalid, on hold, pending review, submitted, accepted, rejected, error or refunded.
You manage the records at Donations > Gift Aid > Overview: the list is grouped by month, you can search by name or postcode, filter by status, open Edit and History for a record, and download the CSV export.
Corrections and the Approve step
Admins can edit the details on a Gift Aid record (name, house number, postcode, overseas address) until it has been submitted to HMRC. When an edited record was invalid, in error or rejected, it moves to "pending review", and an admin must click Approve before it can be submitted.
Editing has two hard limits: you cannot move a record to another donation or donor, and there is no feature to manually link a donation to a donor or a declaration. Only the donor can claim a donation. If a record needs fixing because the donor entered something wrong, ask the donor to correct it in the donor portal, or edit the details yourself before submission. When a claim is rejected or keeps failing, Troubleshoot donations and Gift Aid covers the common causes.
What donors can change later
Donors can cancel or change their declaration from the Gift Aid page of the donor portal, with two limits. Changes are blocked once the record has been submitted to HMRC. And cancelling an already-accepted claim automatically creates an HMRC adjustment that deducts it from your next claim.
Zakat and Gift Aid
Masjidbox does not block Gift Aid on Zakat campaigns. Gift Aid is a per-campaign switch, so you decide where it is turned on. Whether Gift Aid is appropriate for a Zakat campaign is a question for your mosque and HMRC, not something Masjidbox answers for you.
Your responsibility
Your mosque is the claiming charity and is responsible for meeting HMRC's requirements. Masjidbox provides the tool that collects declarations, tracks the records, and submits or exports the claim.