Earlier this year, the Commonwealth Government released a discussion paper on potential changes to the deductible gift recipient (DGR) system. Today the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, the Hon Kelly O’Dwyer MP, announced that a number of the proposed changes will proceed.
As outlined in the Minister’s media release, all non-government DGRs will be automatically registered as a charities with the ACNC from 1 July 2019, with a 12-month transitional period to assist current non-charity DGRs with compliance.
The existing DGR registers and Overseas Aid Gift Deduction Scheme will be integrated with the ACNC Charity Register and duplicated reporting requirements will be abolished.
The Government will also issue External Conduct Standards, to be enforced by the ACNC, as recommended by the ACNC and the AUSTRAC’s report of 28 August 2017: Australia’s non-profit organisation sector: money laundering and terrorism financing risk assessment report.
The ACNC has also been asked to publish charities’ declarations of political expenditure to the Australian Electoral Commission and relevant criminal activities of charities’ staff or Responsible Persons through the Annual Information Statement.
The Government has stated that it will consult on details of the implementation of the DGR reforms. The ACNC will keep charities informed of the impact of the reforms as more information becomes available.