New Income Tax Guide for Not for Profits
24 July 2012 at 9:30 am
| Photo: beachandbay.com.au |
The Australian Tax Office has released a new version of its Income Tax Guide for Not for Profit organisations in preparation for the start of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) on 1 October, 2012.
The new version replaces a 2007 Guide and is specifically aimed at office bearers and advisers of Not for Profit organisations to use when self-assessing if they are exempt from income tax.
The guide includes detailed information about the types of entities that can work out for themselves what their income tax status is. This includes the steps to follow to work out whether an organisation is exempt from income tax. The entitlements and responsibilities of being income tax exempt are also discussed.
The new version of the guide does not discuss the requirements for organisations that must be endorsed to access income tax exemption. These organisations are charities and income tax exempt funds.
The new Income tax guide for Not for Profit organisations is only available online and can be printed from the website.
The ATO has also released a new worksheet to help organisations self-review their income tax status.
Organisations are either income tax exempt or taxable. The worksheet allows NFPs to type directly into the form and save the completed form to a computer. The ATO recommends that self-assessing Not for Profit organisations use this worksheet on an annual basis and whenever there is a major change to their structure or operations.
Under the new regulatory regime, the ACNC will be responsible for determining charity status for all Australian Government purposes and maintaining a charity register while the ATO will continue to be responsible for administering tax concessions for charities.
