Tax Deductible Gift Recipient Reform Opportunities Discussion Paper
This submission to Treasury responds to the Tax Deductible Gift Recipient Reform Opportunities Discussion Paper – June 2017 (Discussion Paper) and was prepared by the Not-for-Profit Legal Practice and Charities Committee of the Legal Practice Section with assistance from the Australian Environmental Planning Law Group Legal Practice Section and the Taxation Law Committee, Business Law Section.
The Committee welcomes reform to the complex area of DGRs and the committee supports reform which will provide:
- clarity and consistency in reporting and governance requirements;
- the reduction of red tape and complexity;
- access to clear understandable information and education, and
- transparency and accountability.
The stated aim of the reforms raised in the paper is to:
- strengthen the governance of DGRs;
- reduce the complexity of DGR application processes, and
- help ensure the DGR status is up to date1.
The Committee notes the following concerns as to the discussion paper:
- In spite of the general statements, the paper focusses on DGRs which are on the four existing registers and specifically listed with no consideration of how the proposal may affect other categories of DGR; and
- Questions 4 to 6 extend to all charities so are beyond the scope of the paper.
The Committee encourages reform and urges Treasury to pursue wider reforms, including adoption of the recommendations of the Not-for-Profit Sector Tax Concession Working Group’s Report as achieving the aims of Treasury and enabling this issues to be addressed as a whole.
In particular the recommendation that all charities are made DGRs, which would support the first two aims of the discussion paper.
You can read the full submission below.