Claiming FBT exemption
Scenario:
My organisation has public benevolent institution status and is changing from being an incorporated association to a not-for-profit company regulated by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission from 1 July 2017. We were informed by someone that we can claim the FBT exemption and want to know if we can claim the full year exemption in the first entity from 1 April 2017 to 30 June 2017 and then claim the full year exemption in the new entity from 1 July 2017 to 31 March 2018.
Explanation:
The exemption in s 7A of the FBT Act applies to the provision of benefits to employees, irrespective of whether the employer is a registered public benevolent institution or is endorsed as a registered public benevolent institution under the ACNC Act. In other words, it makes no difference to the availability of the exemption whether the entity is one or the other. Thus, an exemption should be available for the entire FBT year regardless of whether your organisation, which is the provider of the benefits, is one type of entity or the other.