Advice on PTAs/schools claiming gift aid.. hoping someone can help!

[RainAndRoses]

Hi all,

Am enquiring about how PTAs and primary schools can claim gift aid on donations. I've recently got involved in our school's parents group (not a formal PTA yet) and we're doing a sponsored cycle ride which could raise a few thousand pounds. Gift aid would therefore be a significant boost to the total.

However, for various reasons there would be quite an administrative burden in the parents group actually claiming the gift aid (partly as the group is new/reformed), so my question is, can primary schools claim gift aid direct? Does it depend on whether they are a charity or not? (My understanding is not all are? Ours is a state-run, still LA controlled, one). The school don't think they have ever claimed it before.

Any experience gratefully received.

Thanks!

[TeenTimesTwo]

PTA Treasurer here:

I don't think a school would be able to do this unless they are a charity and LA controlled ones won't be. If there are charity grants around we as the PTA have to apply because the school wouldn't be eligible. (But they do get the advantage of not having to pay VAT, which is why the school orders stuff and we repay them.)

We have never gone down the registering for gift aid as the admin didn't seem worth it for the amount we'd be able to reclaim (not done sponsored things).

Hopefully someone better informed will come along and tell me I'm wrong.

[RainAndRoses]

That is brilliant, thank you so much!

[RaggieDolls]

My PTA is registered for gift aid. It was a straightforward process and HMRC have designed it so it isn't too difficult for charity volunteers without an accountancy background to claim.

Is your PTA a registered charity?

[sallythesheep73]

So long as PTA is a registered charity and the 'donors' get no 'benefit' from their donation you should be able to go for it :-)

[prh47bridge]

You don't necessarily have to be registered as a charity. However, you must be recognised as a charity by HMRC. If your annual income is below £5,000 you don't need to be a registered charity to be recognised by HMRC. Once your income hits £5,000 a year you will need to register.