Charities and the not-for-profit sector: Background Paper for Session 13 of the Tax Working Group

The attached paper is intended to help inform the Tax Working Group (the Group) about the charities and not-for-profit sector and some of the tax policy pressure points. The paper provides:
· An overview of the charity and not-for-profit sector;
· Current tax treatments that apply to groups within the sector; and
· Details of some key current policy issues we have identified.
The paper focuses on two key policy matters - donation concessions available to foundations, and business income. Accumulations of profits are an underlying issue for both of these matters.
Other key policy matters are also summarised in the paper, should the Group wish to consider a wider set of tax issues.