Charities topics

Honorarium

Chris6543 — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 11:04:39 GMT

I’m part of an organisation that is choosing to pay its executive director an honorarium of $38k to do three days a week work. This seems more than is reasonable for an honorarium, but they are insisting they don’t need to withhold PAYG or pay super.

Public fund and DGR requirements

ccb — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 07:58:56 GMT

Hello,

I am after some advice about public funds. Sorry if what I'm about is all ignorant, but we are struggling to get answers.

We are a small wildlife shelter who were advised to create a public fund when we had an influx of animals and donation come through due to bushfires in 2009. We are no longer experiencing that influx and haven't for some time and are looking at the possibility of closing the public fund as it can be difficult to manage at times. Our main questions are as follows:

- Do we need a public fund to be able to give tax deductible gift reciepts? If we close the fund and are unable to give DGR's, can members of the public still claim donations?

- What is the maximum amount of money we can fundraise without a public fund, as a NFP organisation?

- If we close the public fund, could we apply to open another in the future if we get an influx of donations again?

Any help is much appreciated.

Cheers,

Cassey

Reduction of travel allowance - specifically the meal allowance rate

Nezily_mondejar — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 07:22:56 GMT

Hi,

Our NFP organisation follows ATO TD 2019/11 3 July 2019 for travel allowance. Our new management would like to reduce the meal allowance rates as it is very high. Can the employer set their own meal allowance rate for staff travelling?

The Award that we are under do not have a prescripted amount, only the term "reasonable' amount. It is the ATO who set a specific amount that is why it is being adapted. But it seems that the amount from ATO is a burden to NFP like us, can we reduce it?

Thank you in advance for any word of advice out there.

Cheers, Nezi

Charity Employees and Exempt FBT income

Posca — Sun, 02 Feb 2020 00:57:14 GMT

When you send pays to the ATO STP, should your gross wages include the exempt $611.50 per fortnight or not. I use MYOB and they only let me deduct the exempt amount from the gross pay. How does STP allow for the exemption at the end of the year so that the exempt is actually exempted?

Registered Charity-GST-supply & sale electricity via embedded network to retirement residents

SMW — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 05:16:54 GMT

Does GST apply when a registered charity supplies and sells electricity via an embedded network to retirement residents?

GST concessions for non-profits organisations information states - certain supplies made by a registered charity that operates a retirement village may be GST-free. Those supplies must be made by the charity to a resident of the retirement village. The range of supplies which this GST-free treatment applies to, includes the supply of accommodation and the services related to the supply of accommodation.

Would appreciate any comments to support or unsubstantiate whether GST will or won't apply

Tax implication on multiple scholarship holder

RosieTrinh — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 00:14:26 GMT

Hi all,

I have a question about tax implication for mutiple scholarship holders.

If a person receives concurrent scholarships for the same course, should she or he need to pay income tax?

From my understanding, full-time study scholarship is exempted from paying income tax. However, in case a person holds mutilple scholarships for different courses, can all of them be treated as fulltime scholarship? it is suspicious that a person can do two full-time studies at the same time so I was wondering in this case if the money received from scholarships should be considered as an income and being taxed.

Thank you

with holding tax

Aurora2020 — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 08:50:47 GMT

Our Rotary Club has had a long term deposit with the St George Bank since 2010, as we did not have a Tax File Number until last week, St George have been with holding tax on that account sine 2010.

I understand that the bank should refund any wth holding tax for the current faninacial year but how can we claim back any moneys deducted from previous finacial years.

the Form on the ATO website doesnt appear to applay to our needs as a not for profit Rotary Club

Supplier Not Charging GST

Penglert — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 05:15:07 GMT

Good Afternoon

We have a supplier that is not registered for GST but we have paid more than 75K since 1/7/19.

They claim their business is trading as a foundation and is a charity.

They are not listed in the ACNC Register.

On the ABN lookup - they are not entitled to receive tax deductible gifts and are not registered for GST.

Question - who will be at fault if we continue to pay them GST Free if they were to get audited by the ATO and is there any comeback on us?

Superannuation Guarantee

Jaylow — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 06:27:22 GMT

I'm considering joining a committee of a small registered charity. I've checked out the books. It has one part-time employee engaged as a contractor for his services. Paid about 30,000 a year plus 9.5% for super. About $32850 pa all up. has been this way for about 4 years. Trouble is the super payments have been going direct to him and he has contributed the $2850 a year to his SMSF.

By my understanding, the charity should report this situation. and is required to pay the 9% later increased to 9.5% tof the total amounts previously paid to the employee (eg last FY $32850), backdated to when employment started, plus 10% interest, plus some penalties. This is a considerable amount of money, that is going to end up in the employees pocket..

When I raised this, I was told employee was a contractor and what was being done was correct. There was no need to report this to the ATO. My other concern is that, there may not be sufficient funds to cover what I think is owed and that the committee office bearers arlikely to be personally liable for the debt.

Any advice would be most welcome.

Donation receipt entity name

KWinter — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 02:04:45 GMT

Hi,

I'm running a charity that is registered with the ACNC and has DGR status. The registration is under the name The Enneagram Movement. We are looking to run a fundraising campaign for an initiative called Enneagram Prison Project Australia. So The Enneagram Movement will be the legal entity supporting the Enneagram Prison Project Australia initiative. We have registered the business name "Enneagram Prison Project Australia" under our ABN.

My question is in relation to receipts for donations. Can we simply use the name "Enneagram Prison Project Australia" on our receipts, or will we need to use the legal entity name of The Enneagram Movement?

Kind regards,

Kyle

religious body and FBT for religious practitioner

willemtwee — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 08:03:05 GMT

Hi. I have read all examples and rules relating to the FBT for religious organisations and practitioners. The situation at hand satisfies all criteria. However my question relates to the extent of what are allowed as FBT tax exempt payments made to the pastor

Are payments made to the pastor all exempt? We keep assuming the man works full time as a religious and qualified person. Like if a credit card was provided to him could any and all costs he incurs in everyday life be regarded as FBT payments to him without tax? And holidays and associated travel is also permissable? (I saw one example where it was mentioned)

If so then such a person could be set up with a stipend of just under the taxfree limit and paid eveything else as an FBT payment. What is the intent of the law on this?

Tax "donation" on homebrand milk?

JE4873 — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 23:06:45 GMT

Can I claim the "donation" for farmers on the Woolworths home brand milk on my tax?

GST on Camp Fees

SCE — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 22:51:39 GMT

If I had a not for profit organisation that was registered for GST that had a sub entity that ran a camp for children, would the camp fees we charge to the children be GST Free? Could we claim back the GST on the catering and other costs in relation to putting on the camp?

Taxation of superannuation death benefit paid to charity

KeithS — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 07:33:28 GMT

I want to leave my superannuation death benefit (SDB) to an Australian charity.

I'm aware of the general rule regarding taxation of SDBs: broadly, no tax if the SDB is left to a dependent (as defined in the legislation), but tax to pay on the taxable component of the SDB if left to a non-dependent, eg. to a charity.

Ignoring the medicare levy, and ignoring any untaxed element of the taxable component of the SDB, is the tax to pay 15% of the taxable SDB component or is it the lower of 15% and the recipient's marginal rate? If the latter, because the charity pays no tax, does this mean that taxation of the SDB will be 0%?

Thanks for any help the community can give.

Donating on Behalf of Someone Else

CuriousOne — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 03:18:56 GMT

If I make a donation in the name of Person A to a registered charity (eg as a Christmas present to Person A) and have Person A's name on the receipt, is Person A able to claim a tax deduction for the donation?

Paid Parental Leave

LyMai71 — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 02:28:36 GMT

Good aternoon,

Please could you advise whether or not the employee on paid parental leave be entitled for salary sacrifice (deductions).

Also, if staff on worker compensation scheme is entitled for superanuation payment.

Many thanks.

Kind regards,

tax amendment

ali786 — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 00:50:52 GMT

Hello,

I just realised i didnt claim my charity amount for year 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 tax period. I know it is out of amendment period. Can i still object for the extension of period. Is the applicatiion for extension and amendment is having any success results?

Charity Fundraising and Tax.

test123 — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 06:36:46 GMT

I am interested in doing a crowd-source fundraiser to raise money to help students from low-income families / areas get access to tutoring services.

The plan would be to raise the money using an online platform, then use it to pay for education expenses (like pens and books), as well as professional tutors/tutoring companies to provide tuition to the students. So it would sort of be like a scholarship, where the students get access to the tutoring services for free, but the service providers are still getting paid.

In case it is relevant, I would be doing the fundraising myself. I do have an ABN as a sole trader and work within the education sector.

I am planning on raising less than 15,000, so I would assume that I would be exempt from the charitable fundraising act. (Please correct me if I am wrong) Source of my information here.
For legal reasons I would place the money into it's own separate bank account. While the money is in that account and before it is spent, I would assume that it is 'legally' mine since it is under my control. I want to make sure there are no other legal or tax obligations that I am aware of while the money is under my control, before it gets spent on the fundraising objectives (other than the obvious, I shouldn't go spending that money like it was my personal account.)

One big question I have, is there any reason why I cannot provide the fundraising funds to the students directly for the purpose of buying book/pens e.c.t? Or would I be required to buy the materials myself and then offer them to students for free?

I haven't been able to find any legislative information regarding scholarships, so I am also wondering if there is something about scholarships before I start.

Once the money is raised, most of it will be paid to the providers of the tutors / tutoring company. Since I am an organisation that has control of the money, am I required to provide any form invoice or other documentation when I pay for the tutoring? Or would it be considered along the same lines as a regular customer paying for their service?
e.g, If I pay $50 a week to Company A for the tuition of Student A, would it be considered the same as me giving the $50 fundraised money to Student A (whether it be a scholarship or other) and then Student A pays Company A directly? It just gets a bit complicated where I am an organisation paying another organisation for services, but those services aren't related to my organisation.

In a different situation, if I wasn't going to pay a company for the tuition, but pay individual tutors for their time instead, I would assume that it would be feasible to pay private tutors with their own ABN, and it would be similar to the situation mentioned above. I would also assume that there would be no professional relationship between my organisation (and my ABN) and the private tutors with their own ABNs. The individual tutors would then organise their own tax and superannuation requirements as they would if they were conducting tutoring regularly. Again, it just gets a bit complicated where I would be organising a private tutor to come to and provide their services, but technically I am not hiring them in any way. I'm just looking for clarification on this and making sure my assumptions are not incorrect.

My last question: If I was the person organising this, is there any reason why I could not pay myself as one of the private tutors? I would assume that it is similar to the situations above, where I can work under my own ABN and do my own taxes / superannuation required. Then my professional relationship would be between myself and the students/scholarship holders, despite the money being paid from the fundraising bank account to my own bank account. But if there are tax and/or legal problems with this please let me know.

Thanks.

NFP (Pbi) and GST

Debbiesap — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 07:02:34 GMT

I work for a NFP charity. people can either contribute as a member or tax deductible donation. membership allows them to attend AGM.

Are these contributions subject to GST

Checkout charity

admin — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 02:19:41 GMT

Hello

When donating to a charity at point of sale, such as a supermarket checkout, can the consumer claim this donation in their individual tax return? Provided that they have their receipt, the amount meets the minimum $2, and the charity organistation is "deductible gift recipient" (DGR). Could the collector, ie the supermarket who is passing on the donations collectively claim a tax deduction too?

Thanks

Charity sub entity employing

Paulbash3 — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 00:09:33 GMT

We run a charity that has opened a sub entity to run a cafe. All profits go back to the charity and it is really just a sub entity for the purpose of GST and also to claim employment incentives from QLD government. My quesion is if the sub entity employs people can the parent charity just pay them on their payroll and payg?

Working for a NFP Charity

Debbiesap — Wed, 27 Dec 2017 04:41:23 GMT

I have been advised that one of the benefits of working for a NFP is the I can treat the first $15,000 of my income as tax free.

I am not sure if I fully understood but wondering if this is the same as any Salary Sacrifice options available to employees in a commerical company, and if not how do they differ.

Addtionally, is there a list of items that I may Salary Sacrifice (I am assuming it is a restricted list - i..e I cannot salary sacrifice my levies or groceries.

Ty.