A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) (Frequency of Fund-raising Events) Determination 2026

Explanatory Statement

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) (Frequency of Fund-raising Events) Determination 2026

General outline of instrument

1.                   This instrument is made under subsection 40-165(4) of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (the Act).
2.                   This instrument allows an endorsed charity, a gift-deductible entity or a government school to treat all supplies it makes in relation to a fund-raising event as being input taxed where it holds 15 or fewer like or similar fund-fundraising events in a prescribed accounting year.
3.                   The instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003.
4.                   Under subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, where an Act confers a power to make, grant or issue any instrument of a legislative or administrative character (including rules, regulations or by-laws) the power shall be construed as including a power exercisable in the like manner and subject to the like conditions (if any) to repeal, rescind, revoke, amend, or vary any such instrument.

Date of effect

1.                   This instrument commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.

Background

1.                   Under section 40-160 of the Act, an endorsed charity, a gift‑deductible entity and a government school (as defined in the Act) may be able to choose to treat all supplies they make in connection with a fund-raising event (as defined in section 40-165 of the Act) as input taxed, subject to other requirements in section 40-160 of the Act.
2.                   If an endorsed charity, a gift‑deductible entity or a government school has chosen, under section 40-160 of the Act, to treat supplies made in connection with fund-raising events as being input taxed, they would not be required to remit GST on the supplies they make in relation to that fund-raising event or be able to claim input tax credits on all the acquisitions made in relation to the fund-raising event.
3.                   ‘Fund-raising event’ is defined in subsection 40-165(1) of the Act to mean events that are conducted for the purpose of fund-raising. It includes, a fete, ball, gala show, dinner, performance, or other similar events. It includes an event involving the sale of goods where each sale does not exceed $20 and the selling of that good is not part of the entity’s normal business. It also includes events determined by the Commissioner to be a fund-raising event for the purposes of paragraph 40-165(1)(c) of the Act. However, where these events form part of a series or regular run of like or similar events, they are excluded from the definition of ‘fund-raising event’ in section 40-165(1) of the Act.
4.                   Where a fund-raising event forms part of a series or regular run of like or similar events, the endorsed charity, gift‑deductible entity or government school cannot choose to treat supplies made in connection with any of the events held in that prescribed accounting year as input taxed.
5.               Under subsection 40-165(4) of the Act, the Commissioner has the power to determine the frequency with which fund-raising events may be held without forming any part of a series or regular run of like or similar events.

Effect of this instrument

1.               Section 6 provides that, for the purposes of subsection 40-165(1) of the Act, the maximum number of fund-raising events that can be held by an entity before forming any part of a series or regular run of like or similar events is 15 in any prescribed accounting year.
2.               Because of the way section 40-160 of the Act interacts with section 40-165 of the Act, the only entity covered by this instrument is an endorsed charity, gift‑deductible entity and government school that meet the requirements in section 40-160 of the Act.
3.               Where the maximum number of like or similar fund-raising events is exceeded in a prescribed accounting year, the entity is not able to choose to treat supplies made in connection with any of the events held in that prescribed accounting year as being input taxed.
4.               This means that an entity covered by this instrument that holds 16 or more like or similar fund-raising events, in a prescribed accounting year, cannot choose to treat supplies made in connection with any of the like or similar fund-raising events, held in that prescribed accounting year, as being input taxed. The entity must remit GST on supplies made in connection with all like or similar fund-raising events held (including the first 15 events held) in that prescribed accounting year.
5.               Prescribed accounting year, of an entity, is defined in the instrument to mean the 12-month period ending on the date the entity balances its accounts. A prescribed accounting year is used instead of a financial year (1 July to 30 June) because these types of entities may have a different 12-month period that they balance their accounts.

Compliance cost assessment

1.               Compliance cost impact: Minor – There will be no additional regulatory impacts as the instrument is minor and machinery in nature (OIA25-10493).

Consultation

1.               Subsection 17(1) of the Legislation Act 2003 requires that the Commissioner is satisfied that appropriate and reasonably practicable consultation has been undertaken before they make an instrument.
2.               Public consultation was undertaken for a period of 4 weeks commencing 31 October 2025 on drafts of this instrument and explanatory statement.
3.               The draft instrument and explanatory statement were published on the ATO Legal database and publicised on the database’s ‘What’s new’ page. Major tax and superannuation publishers and associations commonly monitor these pages and usually include the detail in the daily and weekly alerts and newsletters to their subscribers and members.
4.               No feedback was received on the draft instrument and explanatory statement during the consultation period.

Statement of compatibility with human rights

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) (Frequency of Fund-raising Events) Determination 2026

This legislative instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Overview of the legislative instrument

This legislative instrument determines that an endorsed charity, a gift-deductible entity or a government school can conduct 15 or fewer fund-raising events in a prescribed accounting year before these events form any part of a series or regular run of like or similar events. Where these entities hold 15 or fewer fund-raising events in a prescribed accounting year, they may choose to treat all supplies made in connection with those events as input taxed (which means no GST is payable on those supplies). However, should these entities hold more than 15 fund-raising events in a prescribed accounting year, GST must be remitted on supplies made in connection with all of the fund-raising events held in that year.

Human rights implications

This legislative instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms. It helps reduce compliance costs for endorsed charities, gift-deductible entities and government schools that conduct 15 or fewer fund-raising events in a prescribed accounting year.

Conclusion

This legislative instrument is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.