Suchergebnisse

First Tier Tribunal (Charity), General Regulatory Chamber, 18 July 2016. This was an appeal brought on behalf of the Crocels Community Media Group (CCMG) against a ruling of the Charity Commission for England and Wales (the Commission) refusing CCMG registration as a charity.

Australian Capital Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal, President Spender, 25 January 2016. Associations cannot discriminate against their members, including cancelling their membership without complying with the Articles of the Association, because of the member's political conviction.

Australian governments now rely on the non‐profit sector to provide essential services. Yet, anecdotally, the compliance burden imposed by governments consumes scarce service delivery resources. This study quantifies the cost of government generated paperwork for Queensland non‐profit organisations. Fourteen non‐profits kept logs to record government paperwork over 12 months. The non‐profits also provided their experiences of government paperwork and in particular grant submission and reporting processes. The study finds that government grant paperwork forms the bulk of a non‐profits total paperwork burden with grant submissions being the most costly to complete. Costs are clearly regressive with small non‐profits bearing a significantly higher burden. Governments need to lead the way and empower the non‐profit sector by reducing this administrative burden and releasing the funds for direct service provision.

New South Wales Supreme Court, Palmer J, 06 July 2007. Whether Court could intervene in the domestic affairs of a political party that was an unincorporated association.

Every jurisdiction in Australia has now enacted legislation to protect volunteers of community organisations and all levels of government from incurring personal civil liability. In most jurisdictions these laws transfer liabilities incurred by volunteers to the public sector organisation that organises the work they undertake. This article provides a brief background to the reforms before undertaking an examination of the impact of the legislation upon public sector organisations and their volunteers.

Federal Court of Australia, Dowsett J, 19 August 2005. Whether Government as funder of indigenous employment was also an employer and obliged to pay award rates.

Supreme Court of Tasmania, Slicer J, 14 May 2004 Dispute of members of a joint venture formed to take advantage of government funding.

The primary objective of this article is to describe recent Australian moves to greater industry self‐regulation and, within that context, to examine the development of AS3806, a voluntary standard developed by Standards Australia, which firms may use as a model or template for the design and management of their regulatory compliance systems. The article is divided into four sections. The first provides an outline of recent Australian developments regarding industry self‐regulation and compliance. The second describes the growing interest in industry codes of conduct and the role of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The third describes the main features of AS 3806. The fourth examines the question of compliance standards in relation to the legal process, focusing on two recent cases and is followed by a conclusion.

Many donors, particularly those contemplating a substantial donation, consider whether their donation will be deductible from their taxable income. This motivation is not lost on fundraisers who conduct appeals before the end of the taxation year to capitalise on such desires. The motivation is also not lost on Treasury analysts who perceive the tax deduction as "lost" revenue and wonder if the loss is "efficient" in economic terms. Would it be more efficient for the government to give grants to deserving organisations, rather than permitting donor directed gifts? Better still, what about contracts that lock in the use of the money for a government priority? What place does tax deduction play in influencing a donor to give? Does the size of the gift bear any relationship to the size of the tax deduction? Could an increased level of donations take up an increasing shortfall in government welfare and community infrastructure spending? Despite these questions being asked regularly, little has been rigorously established about the effect of taxation deductions on a donor's gifts.

The Industry Commission has recently released a wide ranging draft report on charitable organisations. Part of the Inquiry's terms of reference required the Commission to examine the appropriateness of the taxation treatment of charities. The findings of the draft report when combined with the recommendations of the Federal Parliament's Follow the Yellow Brick Road Report point to a systematic review by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) of its dealings with charitable organisations. Generally prevention rather than cure is the better strategy in taxation issues. This article raises a number of issues charitable organisations might consider as part of their prevention strategy. As the ATO administers all the taxes discussed in this article and as the tests for exemption are similar, charitable organisations should find that "getting it right" for one tax means that their affairs will be in order for most taxes.

In late 1993 the Federal Government required the Industry Commission to inquire into charitable organisations. We have previously raised issues about the scope and nature of the inquiry process. These issues are: - the appropriateness of the Commission to undertake the inquiry, - the limited time span given the breadth of the inquiry, - and the non-explicit disclosure of the intellectual framework and methodology to be employed in the inquiry.

It seems likely that the Industry Commission Inquiry on Charitable Organisations will include a reference to examine the state of taxation and charities. There will no doubt be discussions on the taxation benefits enjoyed by charities. These benefits include not only the exemption from being liable for income tax and enjoying the status of being a "deductible body" for the purpose of gifts, but also fringe benefits tax, sales tax, land tax, stamp duty, financial institutions duty, local government rates and charges as well as electricity, gas, telephone and motor vehicle concessions.

Federal Court of Canada, Gleeson J, 29 March 2019. Reviewability of decision of Commissioner of Lobbying, Canada, Lobbying Act, RSC 1985, c 44 (4th Supp), Lobbyists' Code of Conduct (Ottawa: Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying, 2015), public interest standing