The Gathering International

Today is a day of good news!

The Gathering International is now registered as a Non Profit Organisation (NPO) with the Department of Social Development (DSD), as a Community Development project.

The good news about this is that The Gathering International now qualifies for tax exemption, though we still have some processes to complete with the South African revenue Service (SARS).

We plan to meet with our man from the DSD sometime in the next week or two, to outline a plan of action with SARS and registering The Gathering International as a taxpayer, and then ensuring that The Gathering Community Church is finally deregistered as an NPO. All the relevant paperwork has been completed for the de-registration, so we're not sure why the registration is still lingering. Hopefully our man from DSD will shed some light on this. 

On top of this, The Gathering's landlord has recently started talking to Dean again about selling the building to us. This is a very positive step forward!  

What all of this means in real terms is that The Gathering is now well placed to actually buy the building, and hopefully the saga will draw to a close very soon as we get our long awaited section 18a certificate from SARS.

So what's the difference between The Gathering Community Church and The Gathering International? Quite simply, there isn't any difference. All it means in reality is that our NPO registration is no longer as a Faith Based Organisation (FBO), but rather we're now registered as an NPO as a Civil Society Organisation (CSO). We needed to make the change because The Gathering Community Church as an FBO cannot be tax exempt, so in purchasing the building, The Gathering would be fully liable for the sales tax payable on the purchase price. However, as a CSO, The Gathering International qualifies for tax exemption and therefore would not be liable for sales tax on the building purchase.

As far as church life and our outreach are concerned, nothing has changed.