Important Changes to Tax Time Reporting for Not-For-Profit Organisations

If your organisation is not-for-profit and not a registered charity, there are new tax-time requirements from the Australian Tax Office, which came into effect on 1 July 2023.

(Registered charities already have reporting requirements at this time of year, which won’t change).

Non-charitable not-for-profits with an ABN must now submit an annual self-review return, which helps the ATO confirm that your organisation is eligible for not-for-profits tax concessions. Their online form, which is due to be released in October, will include three sections:

1. Organisational details
2. Income tax exemption eligibility
3. Summary and declaration

The ATO suggests that preparing for this early will allow you to collect information and update details to make informed decisions, which may involve board discussion and, for example, reviewing the purpose in your governing documents to ensure it correctly reflects your activities.

The new return will be lodged digitally either through Online service for business (OSB) or, if you use an agent, Online services for agents (OSfA). To get ready for the new process, you may need to notify the ATO or other agencies of changes such as your name, authorised contact person or financial institution account details, or take other actions in the ATO’s Handover checklist. The ATO recommends including an agenda item in your annual general meeting and keeping minutes to record any key personnel changes.

The ATO will be launching a new page on the review process within the month, but in the meantime, you can subscribe to its Not-for-profit newsroom and contact its dedicated Not-for-Profit phone service on 1300 130 248 if you have any questions.

You can also register for a few webinar co-hosted by Justice Connect and the ATO on 19 September 2023 and either attend on the day or receive the recording and slides to review at your preferred time.