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ARTICLE · 20 SEPTEMBER 2013

Public benevolent institution status: The Hunger Project decision

Carroll & O'Dea
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An entity which is mainly raising money to fund charity activities can itself have public benevolent institution status.

AustraliaCorporate/Commercial Law
Josephine Heesh
Josephine Heesh
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Is it now easier to qualify?

The recent decision of the Hunger Project Australia v Commission of Taxation [2013] FTA 693 has decided that it is not necessary for a charity which is providing benevolent relief to the public to deliver that relief directly.

Formerly, on application to the Australian Taxation Office for public benevolent institution (PBI) status, an entity needed to prove that its work and its activity provided direct relief of poverty, sickness, suffering or distress, misfortune, disability, destitution or helplessness in areas where the public would be moved to empathy.

For example, the types or works which qualified for PBI status would have included organisations which were:

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