Speaker at ConferenceSummary – Bill d’Apice and Kylie Maxwell presented to the NSW State Legal Conference on NFP structures and the reform agenda for charities and NFPs on 27 March 2012.

Bill d’Apice and Kylie Maxwell both gave presentations to many lawyers and sector representatives at the request of organisers of the NSW State Legal Conference. They addressed current issues affecting Charities and Not-For-Profits in relation to entity structures, public juridical persons, changes to the laws affecting Public Ancillary Funds, the proposed unrelated business income tax, proposals concerning “In Australia” requirements for certain entities and possible changes to governance requirements with the upcoming Australian Charities & Not-For-Profits Commission.

Bill has written extensively about public juridical persons previously and is the co-author of the Church Administration Handbook which covers the subject in more detail.  Kylie has previously addressed the issue of the changes affecting Public Ancillary Funds in a recent blog and is involved in assisting endorsed Public Ancillary Funds and new Public Ancillary Funds to amend and create Trust Deeds to comply with the new regime.

Both Bill and Kylie are eager to engage with Treasury about the reform process and our firm has written a letter to Treasury about the “In Australia” proposals of Treasury and a further letter to Treasury relating to the proposed unrelated business income tax (also known as the UBIT) which is expected to commence later than the Government had previously announced.  Both lawyers are aware from their clients and involvement in the sector that the upcoming changes are faced by Charities and Not-For-Profit organisations with trepidation and uncertainty.

There appeared to be little understanding among those present at the presentations of the role of a Public Ancillary Fund.  Public Ancillary Funds are entities used to direct philanthropy towards funding those organisations that can give a tax deductible receipt and which carry out charitable work, where the donors and the persons who set up the fund are not looking to undertake such work directly.  The public must be invited to donate to the fund and it must be managed by persons with a degree of responsibility to the community.  If you are not sure whether a fund you are managing is a Public Ancillary Fund, do not hesitate to call us as we can clarify this for you.