What to do if HMRC rejects my Gift Aid claim

When you submit a Gift Aid claim, HMRC completes an initial Submission Check.

The results of this check typically take around 30 to 60 seconds to show within ExpensePlus.

If the details entered within the Gift Aid Settings screen match those that HMRC has on file for your charity, then HMRC will accept the submission, and this will be confirmed by a yellow bar displayed at the top of ExpensePlus.

Important: 'Accepted by HMRC' status means that HMRC has accepted the submission.

It does not mean they have approved the claim - this is a separate step.

Once the Submission Check is complete and the claim has been accepted, the claim then goes through the internal HMRC claim approval workflow.

Important: HMRC does not provide ExpensePlus (or any third parties) with visibility of their internal workflow.

They only communicate with charities directly via letter regarding Gift Aid Claims they have either approved or rejected.

Submission Check

This initial check by HMRC checks that the following are correct:

Sender ID
Sender Password
Charity ID

Note: Typically, the first two of these will be correct (as ExpensePlus can validate these at the point they are entered within the Gift Aid settings screen, so unless you've recently changed these via a ChV1 form update, these won't typically cause the submission check to fail.

If any of these checks do fail, the claim status within the Gift Aid screen will show as 'Rejected by HMRC'.

What to do if the check has failed

If this happens you will first need to update the details entered within the Gift Aid settings to match the details held by HMRC.

You will need to return to the Gift Aid screen and click the button to the right of the claim, then you will be able to resubmit the claim.

Top tip: If you are unsure what details HMRC holds for your charity, then you will need to contact HMRC (the ExpensePlus support team has no visibility as to which field(s) are incorrect).

Internal HMRC Claim Approval Workflow

Typically HMRC processes claims within 10 working days, but this can take longer.

As part of the internal HMRC workflow, HMRC checks that the following details that get submitted when you make a Gift Aid Claim:

Authorised Officials Details
Charity Details

If HMRC rejects your claim, then most likely, the information you have entered within the Gift Aid Settings screen in ExpensePlus does not match the information they have on file for your charity.

To find out more about the Gift Aid Settings screen, click here.

What to do if HMRC rejects your claim

If this happens:

Firstly you will need to correct the details in the Gift Aid Settings screen so that these match the details that HMRC has on file for your charity.

Top tip: If you are unsure what details HMRC holds for your charity, then you need to contact HMRC (the ExpensePlus support team has no visibility as to which field(s) are incorrect).

Once you have updated the details within the Gift Aid Settings screen to match the details HMRC has on file for your charity, you need to contact the ExpensePlus support team to ask them to reset your claim for you.

To do this, click the Send Message option at the top right of this help guide article (don't forget to include in your message the ExpensePlus claim reference, and claim amount).

You will then be able to resubmit the claim to HMRC, however please note the very important note below:

Important: Even though the Gift Aid claim you are trying to resubmit was rejected, if you submit exactly the same claim again (this time with the correct Authorised Official Details and Charity Details), HMRC is highly likely to reject the claim as a duplicate (because as part of the HMRC internal workflow, HMRC checks for duplicate submissions, but they seemingly don't account for the fact the duplicate that is found was a claim they rejected!)

To overcome this it's worth ensuring the claim amount is different. The most reliable way to do this is to split the claim that you re-submit into two claims and submit each separately.

My Gift Aid claim is showing as 'Accepted by HMRC' within ExpensePlus, but I've not received the money or had confirmation from HMRC

Whilst claims are typically approved and paid within 10 days, the HMRC internal workflow can take longer. If you have still not received either the payment or confirmation within 28 days, then we'd recommend contacting HMRC.

Top tip: It's worth knowing that some charities have said that when contacted HMRC about a Gift Aid claim that is showing as 'Accepted by HMRC' but that has not been paid, HMRC has wrongly informed them that they have not received the claim. For a claim to have the status of 'Accepted by HMRC' then the HMRC system has to have sent a digital acknowledgement of the acceptance of the submission to ExpensePlus.

To better understand the Gift Aid module, please view the module overview video here.