How do I record and claim GASDS within ExpensePlus?
What is GASDS?
GASDS enables you to claim an additional 25% from HMRC on cash and contactless card donations. This scheme has limits and restrictions, so do read this blog article which contains more information before processing and claiming GASDS within ExpensePlus.
How do I record donations that are eligible for GASDS?
Cash donations that are eligible for GASDS are often recorded through the bank deposit screen.
HMRC requires that the following information for each collection is recorded:
- total cash donations collected
- date of the collection
- date it was paid into a bank account
When banking more than one cash collection or offering at the same time (which you are allowed to do), you should aggregate all eligible GASDS donations together for each collection. We'd recommend you do this within ExpensePlus by recording each collection as a separate line within the GASDS section of the Bank Deposit screen, using the description field to record the details and date of each collection (see below).
GASDS cash donations can also be recorded via the 'mixed income' transaction type on the bank matching screen, via the petty cash screen (if the money is put into petty cash), or by editing already reconciled income transactions as appropriate.
Note: there are additional reporting requirements for collections in community buildings, which include the need to record:
- the address of the place you collected the donations (including postcode)
- the type of event
- the number of events you held
- an estimate of how many people were at the event
- when you collected the donations
See the HMRC website for more details and guidance on this.
How do I view GASDS donations?
In donation reports, you will find the GASDS Donations Report. Here you can view all your GASDS donations per fund, and select whether to exclude non eligible transactions.
How do I claim GASDS?
On the Gift Aid screen within ExpensePlus, you can view the total of GASDS donations given within a tax year and create GASDS claims. Whilst there is an upper limit on how much can be claimed, ExpensePlus doesn't automatically cap or enforce this, since multisite churches and charities may be able to claim this limit per site.
Therefore, you will need to keep track of this separately as you submit your claims to HMRC.
For all of the latest GASDS rules, check out the HMRC website. We'd recommend you claim GASDS annually after each tax year to avoid over-claiming. To create a claim, just click the 'create claim' button on the Gift Aid screen and follow the instructions on the screen.
To help you better understand the Bank Deposit module as a whole, please visit the module overview page here.