HMRC has reported that more than 12,000 charities have registered to claim gift aid online since it launched the new service eight weeks ago.

The online service, introduced in April, is designed to make claiming gift aid repayments faster for charities and sports clubs. From 30 September, it will be mandatory and HMRC will stop accepting gift aid repayment claims on R68i forms.

HMRC says online claims are usually paid within three working days, as opposed to 26 days using the old R68i paper claim form. It has written to 87,000 charities and community amateur sports clubs (CASCs) to tell them that they can now enroll to make repayment claims through the HMRC website.

Andrew Edwards, HMRC head of charities, said: 'We worked extensively with charities to develop the online service in response to their feedback. It is a significant step towards reducing the process for charities to complete their claims.'

HMRC receives 150,000 paper claims a year from 87,000 separate charities, representing some 23m gift aid donations.