Charities required to register for tax exemptions
Charities Commission,
Charitable organisations must be registered with the Charities Commission to be eligible for exemption from:
- income tax and resident withholding tax (RWT)
- gift duty on gifts from donors
Certificates of exemption
If your charity is on the charities register, and has a current IRD certificate of exemption from RWT, you don't need to apply for a new certificate.
If your charity doesn't have a certificate, you must apply to IRD for a certificate of exemption using their form IR451.
IRD will review and may cancel certificates of exemption from RWT for organisations that IRD had accepted as charitable prior to 1 July 2008, but that are not registered with the Charities Commission.
For those not registered before 1 July 2008 there's a transitional measure to protect the tax-exempt status of organisations that run into difficulty registering before that date. This measure can only be used in some circumstances,
For more information
About tax matters visit the Inland Revenue website: http://www.ird.govt.nz
On charities and registrations visit the Charities Commission website: http://www.charities.govt.nz or Email info@charities.govt.nz