Exempt institutions

To apply to become an exempt religious, charitable or educational institution, you must lodge a written application with us including:

• a certified and dated copy of your original constitution or rules of association
• the full legal name of the organisation
• the ABN/ACN of the organisation
• a copy of the Certificate of Incorporation or Letters Patent issued under the Religious, Educational and Charitable Insitutions Act 1861.
• a completed Form P10—Application for payroll tax registration/notification of DGE (PDF 150 K) (if not already registered)
• a brief history of the organisation
• evidence of the principal object and pursuit of the organisation
• evidence of any current or proposed activities undertaken by the organisation to achieve its principal object
• an explanation of how the activities benefit the public
• a reference to the section and heading of the Payroll Tax Act 1971 the exemption application applies to
• evidence of the relevant non-profit and dissolution clauses in the constitution
• other relevant supporting information, such as
  • your most recent financial statements showing inflow and outflow of funds
  • details and relevant dates (including copies) of any other tax exemption confirmations.
    

Where members of an institution subscribe to common beliefs or articles of faith that are formally documented, they may be exempt from payroll tax.

In deciding whether a body is a religious institution, we may consider:

• whether the body is formally constituted
• the number of members or followers it has in Queensland
• how long the body has been established
• whether the body has a ministry devoted to the practice of its faith or beliefs and conducts regular religious services for members or followers
• whether the members or followers meet regularly at a certain place for religious worship or meditation
• whether a person needs formal training to qualify for the ministry.

Charitable institutions are exempt from payroll tax if they are a public benevolent institution or fulfil the following requirements:

Requirement	Conditions
Purpose	The institution's purpose must be to: care for sick, aged, infirm, afflicted or incorrigible persons relieve poverty provide full-time care for children by ensuring they have food, clothing,  shelter, general wellbeing and protection (e.g. foster homes and orphanages).
Constitution	The constitution must state that: all income and property must only be used to promote its objectives and not distributed to its members if the institution dissolves, all assets will be transferred to another exempt charitable institution having similar objects.
Employees	The institution must be paying an employee who works in: the institution a hospital an exempt educational institution.

The Minister can declare an organisation to be an exempt charitable institution if:

• it has a principal objective or pursuit that
  • fulfills a charitable object

or

• • promotes the public good
• its principal objective is not a sporting, recreational, leisure or social pursuit.

The Minister may also have regard to the commercial activities of the organisation.

Educational institutions that are not run by or on behalf of the State may be exempt from payroll tax.

This includes primary and secondary schools, kindergartens and preschools, and rural training schools.

To be exempt, an educational institution must have a constitution stating that:

• all income and property must only be used to promote the institution’s objectives and not distributed to its members
• if the institution dissolves, all assets will be transferred to an institution that is another exempt educational institution or a charitable institution.

See the following Public Rulings for more information.

GEN003—Exempt institutions and exempt charitable institutions 

GEN004—Relief of poverty 

GEN005—Public benevolent institutions 

GEN006—Guidelines as to charitable object or an object promoting the public good 

PTA009—Exempt charitable institutions—meaning of ‘exclusively’