HMRC is to launch its consultation on digital giving next month, its head of personal tax revealed yesterday, with a view to legislate in Finance Bill 2014.

Cerys Morgan was speaking at the Charity Tax Group’s annual conference in London yesterday, where she confirmed the status of a proposal that was first announced in this year’s Budget.

Morgan told the room of charity and finance professionals that the consultation document will include “some real clear proposals”, but will also invite other ideas. “The government is very clear that the civil service doesn’t have a monopoly on policy-making – we’re really keen to engage with the sector as we develop legislation on this,” she said.

The centrepiece of the consultation will be options around allowing a donor to fill out a single declaration to cover donations through a specific digital channel – such as a particular website, or their mobile phone contract.

“We are also going to use the consultation to get views on a universal gift aid database, something I know has been talked about a lot in recent years, and we also want to look at the wording of the gift aid declaration,” said Morgan.

“Subject to ministerial decision and the outcome of the consultation we are keen to bring forward proposals and legislate in Finance Bill 2014.”

Morgan revealed that in the run-up to the Budget, HMRC held over 35 meetings on digital giving with individuals and representative bodies, which revealed “a quite complicated picture, but with a clear appetite and some opportunities to develop proposals that could really make it easier for people to claim gift aid digitally”.

She added that digital as a channel for giving is only going to grow, echoing the view of many other speakers throughout the day.