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
Last week the ACNC released a one page document to be used as a template governing document for registered charities who otherwise don’t have a constitution which satisfies the requirements of the ACNC.
This template governing document is for charities which are created by an Act of Parliament or are governed by Canon Law and
Federal Parliament has recently passed legislation that allows tax deductibility for donations to a new education charity called Australian Schools Plus.
For the first time, this will allow donors to receive a DGR receipt for donations for general educational purposes to particular schools.
What are the Opportunities for Deductible Gift Donations for Schooling?
Up until
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
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
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
Earlier today the Full Federal Court handed down its judgment regarding the Hunger Project Australia case and rejected the Commissioner of Taxation’s appeal (Commissioner of Taxation v Hunger Project Australia [2014] FCAFC 69). The court has unanimously held that Hunger Project Australia (HPA) does not need to directly give aid
Just weeks before the intended commencement of the “Better Targeting of NFP Tax Concessions” measure, the Acting Assistant Treasurer has issued a press release stating “the Government has considered alternatives to the previous government’s better targeting of not-for-profit tax concessions measure. We have concluded that they are not required at this time”. This news will be welcomed by many charities and not for profit organisations.
The Better Targeting of NFP Tax Concessions, commonly known as the unrelated business income tax (or UBIT), was introduced as part of the 2011-2012 budget and had been delayed for a number of years.Continue Reading The Unrelated Business Income Tax is (finally!) dead
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
Does your organisation turnover more than $20 million annually? If so, there are changes to the New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act) that you need to be aware of.
The GST Act requires all entities with over $20 million GST turnover to report monthly and lodge activity statements electronically.
The ATO will continue to send paper activity statements irrespective of an entity’s turnover. However this does not remove the obligation to switch to electronic reporting for entities with over $20 million GST turnover.Continue Reading ATO changes lodgement requirements for organisations with over $20 million GST turnover