Many arts organisations are charities and rely on DGR tax arrangements to secure vital philanthropic support. If you are not already aware of the government’s proposed changes please take a moment to read the discussion paper.
Submission on this discussion paper close on August 4. To view the discussion paper and have your say visit the Treasury’s website.
The Government has released a discussion paper on potential reforms to the deductible gift recipient (DGR) tax arrangements.
The discussion paper outlines a number of proposals to strengthen the DGR governance arrangements and make the process of applying for DGR status less complex. DGR status helps arts and cultural organisations to fund their activities by allowing them to receive gifts and contributions for which donors are able to claim a tax deduction.One of the proposals in the discussion paper is that the ROCO (and the other three DGR registers run by departments of state) could be transferred to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) in order to reduce red tape and application processing time.
This would mean that cultural organisations seeking DGR status through the ROCO would first register as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, after which DGR endorsement would be managed by the ATO. This process would be similar to that already in place for the general DGR categories for public collecting institutions, under which more than 2500 public libraries, museums and galleries currently have DGR status.
Source: Have your say on the DGR tax arrangements | Department of Communications and the Arts
