Hon Peter Dunne
Minister of Revenue

Friday, 17 December 2010
Media Statement

Dunne: Taskforce endorses tax incentives for charitable giving

Revenue Minister Peter Dunne today welcomed recommendations by the Cultural Philanthropy Taskforce endorsing recent changes to the tax rules to encourage New Zealanders to give more generously to philanthropic causes.

“New Zealanders are generous in giving money and time to support the work of charitable and philanthropic causes in our communities.

“Changes to make the tax rules more favourable to donors have already done much to further encourage this generosity by giving people greater tax benefits on their donations, and making it easier for them to donate through employer-based payroll giving.” Mr Dunne said.

“It is particularly pleasing for me that the Taskforce has specifically congratulated the Government on achieving such a favourable tax environment for charitable and philanthropic giving so far. The removal of gift duty which is currently in a bill before Parliament is a continuation of this work.

“At the same time the Taskforce has made some positive endorsements for work that is currently in the development stages.

“In particular, I welcome the Taskforce’s interest in furthering work on gift aid, where the benefit of charitable donations goes directly to the charitable organisation rather than the donor.

“This is something that is well established overseas and officials are currently looking at how this might be progressed in New Zealand.

“The Taskforce has also endorsed current work on cultural gifting, to encourage the donation of items of cultural significance such as paintings, manuscripts and private collections in exchange for tax relief on the market value of the gift.

“Further work is also underway on looking at how payroll intermediaries might be used to make it easier for employers and their staff to donate on a regular basis, and a review of the donee status for overseas-based organisations to make the system more transparent for everyone involved,” he added.

“I look forward to working through these initiatives to meet the challenges presented by the Taskforce to provide a more favourable tax environment for donors and the organisations and communities they choose to support.”

ENDS

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