New Zealand charities welcome payroll giving legislation

The Government has passed tax legislation including the introduction of a New Zealand payroll giving scheme, enabling employees to make contributions to charities direct from their pay while immediately receiving a tax credit via PAYE.

Given recent scrutiny on charitable fundraising methods and costs to attract public donations, the advent of payroll giving programmes from early 2010 will provide New Zealand donors with an easy and efficient way to accrue donations to support chosen charities.

Both Australia and the United Kingdom have successively implemented workplace giving. Based on observation of the impact in these markets, New Zealand charities are looking forward to payroll giving as an effective and sustainable donations channel.

Founder and CEO of Givealittle.co.nz Nathalie Hofsteede welcomes the legislation, saying “it is exciting that we now have a practical way for donors to access the tax credit from gifting personal income to charity. Many of the charities registered with Givealittle have eagerly anticipated this legislation and most are organising themselves to take advantage of the changes.”

With nearly 300 charitable organisations registered with Givealittle and many more causes for employees participating in payroll schemes to choose from, the company looks forward to unveiling its payroll giving product after more than 14 months behind the scenes development. “Payroll giving really starts to make sense when you add in the tax credit, provided that as an individual employee you still have personal choice about where your donations go.”

Lead Web Developer at Givealittle, Karl Woollaston comments “our belief is that web systems and tools that make payroll and giving easy will help maximize the uptake of companies to the scheme”. Givealittle CEO also states that “targeted donor communications ensure that individual employees feel connected to the results achieved with their charitable donations as part of a wider company commitment to generosity.

Though the scheme will be limited to employers filing PAYE returns online, Hofsteede believes there is likely to be enough interest from employers currently filing paper returns that some will shift processes online via a number of established payroll service providers in order to access the benefits.

ENDS