An understanding of the difference between ‘top-up’ and ‘community buildings’ is integral to successful GASDS claiming.


GASDS comes in two parts. These are named ‘top up’ and ‘community buildings’. When you start claiming under GASDS, you need to decide which is most appropriate for your charity.


Top-up


The vast majority of charities will use ‘top-up’. This is the simpler of the two and is used by churches and charities with one site or branch. It’s a straightforward entitlement subject to the qualifying criteria outlined in GASDS overview.


Community Buildings


This is a bit more complex, but works well for charities with more than one site as the scheme allows you to claim on the £8,000 of donations per building.


Typical types of charities making use of the ‘Community Buildings’ part of the GASDS scheme include:


  • Anglican PCCs responsible for more than one church
  • schools with more than one site
  • single charities that have many branches or assemblies.


When using ‘Community Buildings’, stricter rules apply than is the case for plain ‘top-up’.


  • Donations must have been received in the building with ten people or more present. Attendance records should be kept.
  • Monies received outside the building or other types of gifts such as ‘wall-safe’ donations can’t be included.


Your Fund Filer account will also need ‘Community Buildings’ set up on Fund Filer. This is easily done from Your Account/Setup/Community Buildings. See also Fund Filer and GASDS for further information.


Note that it’s not compulsory to use Community Buildings if you have more than one site. For example, a PCC with two small churches might find the combined loose plate from both churches is unlikely to exceed £8,000 and therefore decide to keep with straightforward, wider-ranging ‘top-up’. Choosing top-up in these circumstances would at least allow wall-safe monies and funds received at very small services with less than ten present to be included.



Further help


The information given here is outline only, so if you are in any doubt at all, please also consult the relevant GASDS page on the HMRC website.


For Anglican parishes, the GASDS sheets from the Church of England’s ‘Parish Resources’ Gift Aid helpsheet series are also very helpful.