Venue:
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ATO office, Hurstville
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Date:
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15 February 2012
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Start:
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10.00am
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Finish:
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3.00pm
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Chair:
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Michael Hardy
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Contact and Secretariat:
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Amy Land Pejoska
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Contact phone:
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(02) 6216 1111
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Attendees
Peter Fogale
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KPMG
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Jason Wrigley
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Ernst & Young
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Penny Wilson
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RSL & Services Clubs Associations
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Peter McLean
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Lawler Partners and RSL & Services Club Association Ltd of NSW
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Anthony Bowd
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VicSport
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Victor Hamit
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Clubs Victoria and Wentworth Lawyers
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John McCallum OAM
Sam Naidu
Jonathan Chew
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Clubs Queensland
Burswood RSL Group
Clubs NSW and Clubs Australia
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Don O'Brien
Rebecca Fanning
Mark Ferguson
Chris Leggett
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BDO
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer
ACNC Taskforce, Treasury
Treasury
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Tamara Hartwich
Fiona McLaren
Ashley Bell
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Treasury
Treasury
Treasury
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Michael Hardy
Jason Aitchison
Amy Land Pejoska
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ACNC Project Team, ATO
ACNC Project Team, ATO
ACNC Project Team, ATO
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Paul Clarke
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ME&I, Employee Obligations ATO
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Apologies
Lisa Evans
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Mingara Leisure Group
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James Winter
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BDO
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Disclaimer
Clubs Consultative Forum agendas, minutes and related papers are not binding on the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) or any of the other bodies referred to in these papers. While every effort is made to accurately record views expressed, the wording necessarily represents a summary of statements of general position only, and care should be taken in interpreting those statements. These papers reflect the position at the date of release (unless otherwise noted) and readers should note that the position on any issue may subsequently change.
Presented by Michael Hardy.
Accepted minutes of last meeting.
It was noted that the meeting on Better Targeting did not occur, but that ATO had reiterated that the Forum was seeking it and that an opportunity would arise today.
This item was presented by Treasury.
Public ancillary funds
Reforms have been completed.
Recruitment
There are around 40 applications for the Commissioner and just over 300 applications for the Advisory Board.
Review into Companies Limited By Guarantee
Put off until later this year. Concerns about the pace of reform from sector and within Treasury work unit.
Minimising regulatory duplication
A federal government departmental working group process remains ongoing and is being progressed at the state level through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) working group.
On 12 February 2012, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer released the Fundraising consultation. The consultation is until April 2012. This is not Chris Leggett's responsibility. It needs the agreement of all states and territories to go ahead, but the other reforms do not.
April-May 2012
Chris's team will absorb the Fundraising reforms for a holistic approach.
The next Treasury NFP Reform newsletter is on hold. The plan is for some of the common questions around reporting, consolidation, duplication to be answered in the next edition.
Definition of charity
Treasury have received 260 submissions to date. Diverse views represented. Second part of 2012 will see an exposure draft once ACNC legislation is completed.
In Australia requirements
Environmental organisations on the Register of Environmental Organisations to be allowed to operate offshore, subject to some governance requirements for example, the organisation must have governance arrangements in place such that they are satisfied the money is being spent appropriately offshore, and in a way that protects Australia's good reputation.
The disregarding of certain overseas distributions (grants and donations) in section 50-75 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 will remain.
Prescribed entities remain entitled to their offshore operations and would not need to comply with the new arrangements.
Mark Ferguson presented this topic. A handout was distributed.
Recruitment
- Extremely high calibre candidates. Strong bias towards legal and accounting skills.
- From April 2012 transition will commence between Taskforce and ongoing staff.
- Tremendous support from recruitment people in ATO.
Communications
- YouTube being updated regularly.
- Facebook forum has been being well used while we were out for consultations.
- Feedback on the ACNC Taskforce consultation paper is due on 27 February 2012. We will spend a lot of time on reporting framework and educational strategy in March.
Consultations and feedback
- We got a range of suggestions like delaying full reporting or allowing each entity to determine their own reporting format.
- The sector supports the 'report once use often' concept.
Information Portal
- The website is sophisticated. An enormous amount of work is going into its development, with the ATO. Increasingly, ACNC recruits will take it up and continue the work. We have recruited a technical expert.
Questions
- Who is making up the COAG Working Group?
- The Commonwealth will chair through Chris Leggett. Each state and territory has a representative.
- State / Territory Departments of the Premier and Cabinet and the Federal Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet plus ACNC Taskforce are observers.
- How does the agenda move forward?
- Some items require the agreement of all jurisdictions but some can go ahead without unanimous agreement.
- Initially, until the states come on board, will there be some duplication?
- Yes, which we have acknowledged.
Key themes from Community Consultations
- A short summary will be prepared in the coming weeks.
- The reporting framework was a key topic.
- Role of ATO was discussed.
- Registration process was clarified.
- Governance arrangements - a lot of suggestions were received.
- One stop shop reporting - people supported the initiative and hoped the states and territories would come on board.
- Tasmania and Western Australia currently have no reporting requirements, so harder to be credible that reporting requirements will be reduced for these jurisdictions.
- The tension between red tape reduction and accountability was evident.
- Tensions around privacy of public ancillary funds that need to be worked through.
- Standard business reporting, very strong views about the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB).
- Fundraising was a key issue. Notion of whether a charity was spending too much money on administration vs charitable purposes. Could a sensible amount be imposed?
- The issue of fees taken by fundraising 'third parties' was also raised as a concern.
- Education, information portal were not big issues.
- Standard business reporting - some issues.
- Other issues such as local government were touched on.
Treasury continued to present on a range of reform projects on a confidential basis.
Michael Hardy presented the agenda item.
Given the establishment of the ACNC from 1 July 2012, some changes may occur to the consultative forums dealing with charitable and broader NFP issues.
We also conduct an annual review of the forums.
Depending on how things unfold, it may be possible to run various teleconferences to discuss different topics like garnering input for consultations on discussion papers.
He requested that members consider the evaluation form and provide comments to Amy Land Pejoska.
Action item
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1
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Description
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Advise Amy Land Pejoska of updates required to the membership list that is published on the ATO website.
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Responsibility
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All members
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Due date
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As soon as possible
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Action item
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2
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Description
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Provide completed evaluation forms to Amy Land Pejoska.
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Responsibility
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All members
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Due date
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As soon as possible
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Michael Hardy drew attention to the updates.
Members noted that there was no feedback given around the issue of vouchers. The issue is the treatment on redemption or on acquisition. Would they come within the definition of money?
Members noted they had made private ruling applications and it doesn't meet the definition of 'money'.
Michael Hardy noted that the private rulings would evolve into ATO Interpretative Decisions (ATOIDs) in due course, which would bring consistency of treatment.
To date there are no ATOIDs.
Michael agreed to let the GST area know that this remains a big issue, particularly with stored value cards and loyalty programs, and members seek an ATOID.
Action item
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3
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Description
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Bring the need for an ATOID on vouchers to the attention of GST.
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Responsibility
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Michael Hardy
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Due date
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As soon as possible
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Treasury presented a confidential consultation on the NFP reforms.
Michael Hardy thanked members and closed the meeting.
The next Clubs Forum meeting is scheduled for 23 March 2012.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 15 May 2013