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ARTICLE · 31 OCTOBER 2017

Structuring tax deductible gifts to universities

Bartier Perry Solicitors
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The article is a summary of key aspects including 'tips and traps' for universities seeking philanthropic contributions.

AustraliaTax
Oliver Shtein
Oliver Shtein
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A summary of key aspects, including 'tips and traps', for universities seeking philanthropic contributions.

Key points

  • The deductible gift recipient status enjoyed by universities is a most valuable tool in fundraising.
  • Care is needed not to create perpetual and cumbersome obligations when negotiating a gift.
  • The question of whether an amount is or is not a true gift always has to be resolved at some point. This dichotomy has important tax and GST implications.
  • The university foundation structured as a public ancillary fund seems to be on the wane due to compliance burdens and the movement of donor money into private ancillary funds.

University tax concessions

Universities are usually registered as charities with the ACNC and then endorsed by the ATO as tax exempt1 entities and as tax deductible gift recipients (DGR).

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