Non-Profit News Service No. 0289 - New guides released for taxable non-profit organisations

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released the following two new guides for non-profit clubs, societies and associations that are taxable - that is, non-profit organisations that are not exempt from income tax.

Mutuality and taxable income (NAT 73436)

This guide explains the principle of mutuality and helps these non-profit organisations:

• determine if they need to lodge an annual income tax return
• calculate their taxable income, including how to treat mutual dealings with their members.

You can view Mutuality and taxable income on our website or order a paper copy by phoning 1300 720 092 and quoting the full title of the publication.

Guide to company tax return for non-profit organisations 2010 (NAT 73512)

This guide helps taxable non-profit organisations complete the Company tax return 2010 (NAT 0656), and is to be read in conjunction with the Mutuality and taxable income guide and the Company tax return instructions 2010 (NAT 0669).

The guide:

• discusses some common errors made when completing the return and the consequences of these errors
• provides guidance on how to complete related labels on the return correctly, including a worked example that uses the figures from case study 2 in our guide Mutuality and taxable income.

The guide will be updated each year to accompany each income year's company tax return.

You can view Guide to company tax return for non-profit organisations 2010 on our website.

For information about the Non-Profit News Service, including how to subscribe and links to previous articles, see About the Non-Profit News Service. We encourage your feedback and suggestions for future topics to be covered by the news service. You can do this by: emailing npc-publications@ato.gov.au phoning 1300 130 248.