Tax Back Claim Guide.
Updated 19/7/2024
The government allows charitable organisations such as Discovery Church, (which is part of Irish Assemblies of God) to claim back money our donors have given to us against the income tax paid. (This can be employed or self-employed tax.) This is done via the Charitable Donation Scheme.
​
In order for Discovery Church to claim this money from the government, we need our donors to complete a form to declare that they’ve donated a certain amount of money in the tax year and provide a statement about the amount.
For 2021, the most recent year for which our claim has been processed, we received over €25,500 by just completing a few forms. (We are currently putting together the claims for 2022 and 2023.)
​
As a church, we’d like to be able to claim this money from the government each year, so we’ve decided to add this information to the website so that everyone can consider it at their leisure. (There will be cut-off dates for forms from particular tax years, which will appear at relevant times and there will be an announcement on the Church newsgroups, too.
​
Eligibility:
-
Did you pay tax (employed or self-employed) in the tax year?
-
Did you tithe (donate) at least €250 to Discovery church in the tax year?
-
Do you have ten minutes to spare to complete a couple of forms?
If you answered yes to those questions, please read on…
What Discovery Church would like you to do:
​
Complete a tax declaration form and return it in an envelope to Janet Mawby either in church or by post*. Janet will then contact you by email (or WhatsApp) with the statement of donation.
​
You can either complete a form that lasts for five years or an annual form:
​
When you complete the form:
​
-
Please write your phone number and email address clearly!
-
Please put “Irish Assemblies of God” as the organisation, NOT Discovery Church. (This is because the claim is dealt with centrally and we are part of an organisation of churches across Ireland. Janet collates all our information and then we receive the claim money back via the organisation.)
-
If you are self-employed, please write S/E above your name on right-hand side. (Claims are made at different times of the year for employed people and for S/E people.)
-
Only tick the “associated with the organisation” box if you are employed by the Church.
​
We’ve already claimed for 2021, so we are looking to claim for 2022 onwards. If you have been attending Discovery Church since 2022 and have not yet completed a form for 2022, please consider doing so by the end of August 2024.
If you started attending Discovery Church in 2022 or later, please consider completing a form (or forms) from your starting tax year. Janet will be preparing 2022 and 2023 claims in September 2024, so please complete and return the 2022 and 2023 forms by the end of August 2024.
​
If you complete a CHY3 (the five-year one) Janet will contact you when your form is due to run out to see if you’d like to renew it.
​
If you have any questions, please contact Janet by email, details are below.
​
Janet will be collating all forms received and they’ll be stored in accordance with GDPR rules until they are sent to the Revenue Department.
Postal address: Janet Mawby, Lydican, Oranmore, County Galway, H91 NH7P.
Janet’s email: janet.mawby@hotmail.co.uk
​
More details for those interested:
​
This link takes you to the Revenue website and explains the Charitable Donation Scheme.
​
Basically, a charitable organisation (Discovery Church) may claim back from the government a proportion of any donations made by taxpayers to Discovery Church. There are limits on what can be claimed. We have to be accountable, so each tax-paying donor must complete a tax declaration form and the organisation must be able to provide either a signed statement from the individual giving details of their donations (dates and amounts– we use the tithing envelopes) or the organisation must be able to show the donations as received from the individual via the Church bank account.
​
Link details:
Charitable Donation Scheme – Charitable Donation Scheme (revenue.ie)
CHY3 – https://www.revenue.ie/en/companies-and-charities/documents/charities/chy3-enduring-certificate.pdf
CHY4 – https://www.revenue.ie/en/companies-and-charities/documents/charities/chy4-annual-certificate.pdf