HMRC has issued updated guidance on the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) with the section ‘Community buildings’ revised to clarify how much a charity can claim under GASDS, from 6 April 2017.

The relevant section is reproduced below:

Community buildings

The community buildings rules affect how much your charity can claim under GASDS.

There’s no limit on the number of eligible community buildings that a charity can have.

The community building rules don’t apply to CASCs.

Collections in community buildings from 6 April 2017

If you’re a charity with 2 or more community buildings, you can claim a maximum of £8,000 on either:

• small donations collected anywhere in the UK
• small donations for each community building collected in the same Local Authority area as the community building you’re claiming for

You can choose the option that benefits you the most.

If you’re a charity with fewer than 2 community buildings, it’s better to claim on small donations collected anywhere in the UK.

From 6 April 2017 you can claim top-up payments on small donations collected at any time, you don’t have to collect them during a charitable activity. The community buildings rules will still apply.

You can’t charge a fee to enter the building (or the part of the building) where the charitable activities take place.

The activities must:

• include at least 10 people who’ll benefit from the charitable activity
• take place at least 6 times a year
• be open to members of the public

Collections in community buildings before 6 April 2017

You can claim top-up payments on donations collected in community buildings before 6 April 2017 for 2 tax years after the collection date.

This means you can claim top-up payments on donations collected during tax year:

• 2014 to 2015 until 5 April 2017
• 2015 to 2016 until 5 April 2018
• 2016 to 2017 until 5 April 2019

Before 6 April 2016, the claim limit for a tax year was £5,000 on donations collected:

• in each community building
• in the same Local Authority area

If your organisation is connected to another charity or CASC, other rules apply.