HMRC has published an updated guide to the new Charities Online service launched in April. The guide is also intended to help organisations deal with, and prepare for, the change.

By way of reminder, since 22 April 2013, charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) can sign up to make repayment claims electronically. This service was introduced in response to feedback and is intended to make repayment claims faster and easier by filing online. Claims will now be acknowledged and there is a facility to make gift aid easier for sponsored events. As a result, the current R68(i) print and post repayment form has been replaced by three options for making claims.

The new service also has a number of built-in checks that can identify errors before a claim is submitted. When submitting a claim using the new system, an on-screen confirmation reference number is generated confirming the claim has been submitted successfully. A separate confirmation will also be received when the repayment is made.

All the donations for someone taking part in a sponsored event can now be put as one entry under the name of that participant. This means that the charity doesn't need to list every individual donor who sponsored the person, which is what previously happened for fewer than ten donors. Only individual donations from a donor of £500 or more shown on individual sponsor sheets need to be separated out and listed individually on the claim form.

The rules for aggregating Gift Aid donations have also changed. The current limit of £500 has been increased and claimants can now aggregate individual Gift Aid donations of £20 or less, up to a total of £1,000 per entry.

Charities can still list donations and sponsors individually if their system is easier maintained this way as details of all donations should still be kept in case HMRC needs to check a claim.