Improving the integrity of public ancillary funds

• Bill Shorten
• Treasury

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22 November 2010In the 2010-11 Budget, the Government announced changes to improve the accountability of public ancillary funds and give Australians more certainty that their donations are being used wisely.

The changes will provide trustees of public ancillary funds with greater certainty as to their philanthropic obligations and provide donors and the charitable sector with greater confidence that donations are being used effectively.

The Assistant Treasurer has released for public consultation a Discussion Paper on improving the integrity of public ancillary funds which aims to increase public confidence in the philanthropic sector.

A public ancillary fund is an ancillary fund to which the public can make tax deductible donations, for the purpose of disbursing funds to a range of non-ancillary or ‘doing’  deductible gift recipients.  These funds are generally used as vehicles for community fund raising.

The proposed changes introduce a new regulatory framework similar to that introduced on 1 October 2009 for private ancillary funds.

The new rules will apply to public ancillary funds as from 1 July 2011.

Making a submission

Interested parties are invited to comment on the discussion paper. While submissions may be lodged electronically or by post, electronic lodgement is preferred. For accessibility reasons, please submit responses sent via email in a Word or RTF format. An additional PDF version may also be submitted.

All information (including name and address details) contained in submissions will be made available to the public on the Treasury website unless you indicate that you would like all or part of your submission to remain in confidence. Automatically generated confidentiality statements in emails do not suffice for this purpose. Respondents who would like part of their submission to remain in confidence should provide this information marked as such in a separate attachment. Legal requirements, such as those imposed by the Freedom of Information Act 1982, may affect the confidentiality of your submission.

Closing date for submissions: Friday, 17 December 2010

Address written submissions to:
Manager
Philanthropy and Exemptions Unit
Personal and Retirement Income Division
The Treasury
Langton Crescent
PARKES ACT 2600

Email: pafreforms@treasury.gov.au

For enquiries, please call Robyn Vincent on (02) 6263 2758.