Fringe benefits tax and public benevolent institution employment arrangements

This fact sheet explains the requirements a public benevolent institution must meet to be exempt from paying fringe benefits tax (subject to a capping threshold), including new endorsement requirements that apply from 1 July 2005.

What is a public benevolent institution?

A public benevolent institution (PBI) is a non-profit institution organised for the direct relief of poverty, sickness, suffering, distress, misfortune, disability or helplessness.

The characteristics of a PBI are:

• it is set up for needs that require benevolent relief
• it relieves those needs by directly providing services to people suffering them
• it is carried on for the public benefit
• it is non-profit
• it is an institution, and
• its dominant purpose is providing benevolent relief.

For an explanation of these characteristics, see Is your organisation a public benevolent institution?