Draft bill for new DGR Category: Men’s and Women’s Sheds
April 2020 | News | Jae Yang
UPDATE: The government has recently announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, introduction of legislation to enact this proposed DGR category will be deferred indefinitely. Please contact Jae Yang (Partner) if you have any questions.
In its 2019-20 Budget, the Federal Government announced it will establish a DGR general category to enable Men’s Sheds and Women’s Sheds (Sheds) to access DGR status from 1 July 2020.
The Government has now published an exposure draft of the proposed bill to amend the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (available here) to give effect to the new DGR category for public comment.
Broadly, the draft bill provides that to qualify for the new category, the charity must:
- be an institution;
- be a registered charity with the ACNC;
- be eligible for DGR endorsement (e.g. have an ABN and be in Australia, etc);
- have the dominant purposes of advancing mental health, and preventing or relieving social isolation; and
- seek to achieve those purposes primarily by providing a physical location at which it supports individuals to undertake activities and work.
Public submissions are due by 14 February 2020 and, typically, are made publicly available.
Please contact Jae Yang, Partner (jyang@prolegis.com.au) if you would like to discuss further.
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