Tighter rules on charities
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will have the power to impose administrative penalties or remove trustees from philanthropic organisations established as public ancillary funds under changes proposed to be introduced by the Federal Government.
The Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Bill Shorten, has released an exposure draft of legislation and draft guidelines covering the future treatment of the more than 1,600 public ancillary funds in Australia.
He said that under the changes, the Treasurer would have the power to make legislative guidelines to establish and maintain public ancillary funds, with the Commissioner of Taxation having the power to impose administrative penalties on trustees who failed to comply with the guidelines.
The Commissioner would also have the power to remove or suspend trustees of non-complying funds.
The announcement said the guidelines would require funds to distribute 4 per cent of their net assets each year, and would also allow new funds four years to build an appropriate level of funding before they were legally required to make a distribution.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
Recommended for you
As the end of the year approaches, two listed advice licensees have seen significant year-on-year improvement in their share price with only one firm reporting a loss since the start of 2025.
Having departed Magellan after more than 18 years, its former head of investment Gerald Stack has been appointed as chief executive of MFF Group.
With scalability becoming increasingly important for advice firms, a specialist consultant says organisational structure and strategic planning can be the biggest hurdles for those chasing growth.
Praemium is to acquire an advanced technology firm for $7.5 million, helping to boost its strategy to be a leader in AI-powered wealth management.
