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
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