I teach Design at a University. I was asked to organise a graduate exhibition that was funded by corporate sponsors. I was told not to give the University ABN to these sponsors. However, they needed an ABN to pay us. My manager forced me to use my personal ABN. Now, I need to pay personal income tax on $7,500.00 that was donated to the University for the exhibition. This means I will owe the tax office when I complete my tax return. What can I do?
Hi @ad.david.msb,
This situation depends less on the donation itself and more on how your role was treated when the sponsorship money was handled. Because it’s not clear which applies, there isn’t a single tax outcome we can confirm here.
If you organised the exhibition as a university employee, being required to provide your personal ABN may indicate the sponsorship payments were handled or reported incorrectly.
ABNs are used where someone is operating independently (as an independent contractor). In that scenario, amounts paid to your ABN would be treated as your income.
To help work through this, have a look at our employee or independent contractor guidance and decision tools.
You’ll likely need to clarify the basis of the arrangement with the university:
If the university required you to use an ABN even though you were acting as an employee, that may also raise employment or enterprise agreement considerations. Those sit outside the tax system, so you may want to discuss this with the university’s HR area or Fair Work.
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