An agreement has been reached with the Charities Commission as to how Presbyterian parishes can register as charities and maintain their tax exempt status.
The agreement means registration of Presbyterian parishes is being handled at presbytery level, with each presbytery submitting a list of its parishes to Assembly Office in October 2007.
Assembly Office will lodge the registrations with the Charities Commission, which is likely to take about three months to process them, according to Doug Langford, who negotiated the agreement with the Charities Commission.
Doug, who was previously the Secretary of the Church Property Trustees, wrote to presbytery clerks and parish treasurers in early August explaining how registration would work. He says presbytery clerks he has subsequently spoken to seem comfortable with the process.
The Charities Act 2005 increased regulation of the charities sector, with the aim of making more information about charities publicly available. All charities must be registered by 1 July 2008 to maintain their tax exempt status.
If a parish doesn’t register, it will automatically lose its done status and the Inland Revenue Department will issue default tax assessments. On the positive side, registering means that the parish’s income is exempt from income tax and that the parish can issue receipts for donations that allow donors to claim back tax.
Once the registration process is complete, presbyteries will be advised of their registration number, which they will pass on to parishes.
The registration will cover parishes’ regular committees and any Boys Brigade Company attached to the parish. However, it will not cover any separate legal entities, such as trusts and preschool trusts that are separately incorporated.
Union and cooperating parishes are not covered by this process and will be given separate advice by the Uniting Congregations of New Zealand.
Doug will continue to be available to provide assistance and advice on the registration process, and can be contacted via doug@langford.co.nz