The ATO and ACNC are reminding charities and ancillary funds that the annual reporting period is fast approaching.

Charities

Charities registered with the ACNC (that have an annual year end of 30 June) have less than a week to submit their Annual Information Statement (AIS) to the ACNC. The AIS should be lodged via the

The ACNC Commissioner has just released the ACNC’s Interpretation Statement on Public Benevolent Institutions. The Interpretation Statement provides guidance on the ACNC’s interpretation of the law pertaining to Public Benevolent Institutions (PBI) and insight into how the ACNC and its staff will assess a charitable organisation’s entitlement for endorsement as a PBI. The Interpretation

In a further step to provide a user-friendly and reliable source of data for the community, last week the Australian Business Register (ABR) and Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission (ACNC) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to facilitate data sharing between the two agencies.

Occasionally, there are data discrepancies between the two

Future of the ACNC slowly becomes more certain

Earlier this month, the (then) Minister for Social Services Scott Morrison stated that “there is very strong support for the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) and I don’t believe there would be any support in the Senate for there to be any change.” Many in the

The ATO has released the Draft Special Conditions Ruling TR 2014/D5 – Income Tax: special conditions for various entities whose ordinary and statutory income is exempt

In August the ATO released draft ruling TR 2014/D5 regarding the proposed application of special conditions inserted by the Tax Laws Amendment (2013 Measures No. 2) Act 2013.
The special conditions require that:
  • An entity must comply with all the substantive requirements in its governing rules (Governing Rules Condition); and
  • An entity must apply its income and assets solely for the purpose for which the entity is established (Income and Assets Condition).

What organisations or entities does the ruling apply to?

The ruling applies to a number of income tax exempt entities (but not all) which are listed at Section 50 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA).Continue Reading ATO releases Draft Special Conditions TR2014/D5


The Future of the ACNC Remains Uncertain

On 16 June 2014 the Senate Committee delivered a divided report on the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission (Repeal) (No 1) Bill 2014 (No 1 Bill).

No 1 Bill

Unsurprisingly, the Liberal Senators supported the abolition of the ACNC, however, the Labor and Greens Senators offered dissenting reports appealing for the ACNC to continue. The dissenting reports noted that the ACNC is preferable to returning to the previous regime of regulation by the ATO and ASIC.

The No 1 Bill was introduced into the House of Representatives on 19 March and now will return to the House of Representatives where it is likely to be passed by the lower house. Part 1 of the Bill contains the necessary provisions to repeal the ACNC and Part 2 provides for transitional arrangements, importantly, allowing for the Minister to specify a successor agency.

If passed, the Bill won’t come into operation until the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (Repeal) Bill (No 2) (which has not yet been introduced) is successfully passed.Continue Reading The Future of the ACNC Remains Uncertain

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The ACNC has recently released a register of charities that have not responded to communication from the regulator (i.e. no known address/contact details or correspondence has been returned to sender). Charities on this database risk losing their entitlements to charity tax concessions and have until 30 June 2014 to update their details and contact the ACNC. If these charities do not contact the ACNC, the ACNC will commence the process of revoking their registration as charities. If a charity’s registration with the ACNC is revoked it will not be entitled to charity tax concessions from the ATO.Continue Reading Missing charities could lose tax concessions

Starting a Not-For-Profit or Charitable Organisation

Are you thinking about starting an organisation, charity, club, association, social enterprise, co-operative or some other kind of not-for-profit group? If so, this information may be helpful.

What’s the Difference between a Charity and a Not-For-Profit?Continue Reading Starting a Charity or Not-for-Profit