Ideal for legal advisors, compliance professionals, and NFP leaders, this seminar equips you with tools to manage risk, maintain compliance and confidently navigate vast recent sector reforms. Understand how proposed tax changes could affect unrelated business income, donor-controlled structures, and fringe benefit concessions. Learn how to apply Inland Revenue’s latest operational statements and stay up to date on proposed employment law changes and how they will influence staff management, dispute resolution, and board responsibilities in the NFP environment. Gain clarity on the impact of recent court decisions and deregistration rules, including new requirements for charitable purpose clauses and the application of the deregistration tax.
Description
Attend and earn 4 CPD Hours
10.00am to 11.00am Navigating the Charities Amendment Act (2023)
- Introduces a statutory duty to review their ‘governance procedures every three years’ to ensure they are ‘fit for purpose’
- New forms for filing annual financial returns
- New stringent guidelines for officers and amendment to the s 5 definition
Presented by Susan Barker, Director, Sue Barker Charities Law
11.00am to 11.15am Morning Break
Chair
Dr. Juliet Chevalier-Watts, Associate Professor in Law, University of Waikato
9.00am to 10.00am Changes to Charity Taxing: Overview of the Inland Revenue’s Report and Where It May Lead
- If the Government progresses with proposals to tax unrelated charity business income and to legislate tax rules for donor-controlled charities, what are likely to be the most challenging issues for the sector?
- How do the tax rules apply to profits arising from member transactions with clubs, societies and other associations? What are the practical implications of Inland Revenue’s recent draft operational statement and are law changes necessary?
- What are the implications of proposed changes to the FBT concession for charities that run businesses and provide fringe benefits to employees?
- What proposed donation and not-for-profit simplifications could have the biggest impact on the sector?
Presented by Stewart Donaldson, Principal Policy Advisor, Inland Revenue
11.15am to 12.15pm Court Judgments and Deregistration Decisions that have Shaped Charities Law and What's in Store for 2026
- Navigating the deregistration tax (section HR 12 of the Income Tax Act 2007)
- Key principles from case law:
- Re Greenpeace of New Zealand Incorporated [2014] NZSC 105
- Attorney General v Family First New Zealand [2022] NZSC 80
- Better Public Media Trust v Attorney-General [2023] NZCA 553
- World Gospel Bible College Charitable Trust v Commissioner of Inland Revenue [2024] NZHC 1232
- Charities Services and Inland Revenue practice, and the implications of any reform of the taxation of Charities
Presented by Andrew Ryan, Tax Partner, MinterEllisonRuddWatts
12.15pm to 1.15pm Employment Law Issues in the Not-For-Profits Sector
- The Coalition’s proposed “rebalancing” of employee relations and what this means for NFPs as employers
- What impact the raft of changes under the Employment Relations Amendment Bill will have on NFPs
- The impact of the Employment Relations (Termination of Employment by Agreement) Amendment Bill
- Protecting the brand: the impacts of investigations and employment processes on NFPs, their Boards and SLTs
Presented by Mark Lawlor, Partner, Duncan Cotterill
Learning Objectives
- Understand the changes to charity taxing through an overview of the inland revenue’s report and where it may lead for charities throughout 2025 and into the future
- Gain guidance on navigating the Charities Amendment Act (2023)
- Examine court judgments and deregistration decisions that have shaped charities law and what's in store for 2026
- Explore current employment law issues in the not-for-profits sector
Presenters
Andrew Ryan, Tax Partner, MinterEllisonRuddWatts
Andrew is a leading tax lawyer and chartered accountant, who is renowned for his tax advice and his representation of clients in contentious matters. Andrew provides prompt, clear and pragmatic advice to clients on their most important tax issues. He assists with all aspects of New Zealand tax laws, including with structuring businesses to be tax efficient and compliant from a New Zealand and cross-border perspective. He has advised at the highest level on many of New Zealand’s most complex transactions.
Mark Lawlor, Partner, Duncan Cotterill
Mark is an experienced employment law practitioner with many years’ experience in employment law, workplace disputes and health and safety. He provides strategic advice to employers, senior executives and human resource managers on complex and sometimes sensitive employment laws issues. Mark has extensive experience as an advocate in personal grievance claims, conducting private negotiations on behalf of employers, and appearing before the Employment Relations Authority and Employment Court. Mark advises some of New Zealand’s leading organisations and iconic brands on all aspects of their employment law needs. While many of his clients are global operations that do business in New Zealand and Australia, Mark also works closely with several not-for-profit organisations on their full suite of workplace issues. He has strong relationships with a number of Australian firms and works closely with them to ensure mutual clients receive practical and commercial advice across their trans-Tasman operations. Throughout his practice Mark has developed a base of knowledge across a number of industry sectors including security, air transport, IT, manufacturing, FMCG, retail and fitness/recreation.
Dr Juliet Chevalier-Watts, PhD, PGCLT, LLM (Distinction), LLB(Hons), BA (Hons). Associate Professor in Law, Research Convenor and former Co-Director Waikato Public Law and Policy Research Unit
Juliet is a specialist in charity law, equity and trusts, and religious law. Juliet’s recent contributions to the literature includes the monographs "The Law of Religion in New Zealand" and the 2nd edition of the "Law of Charity" (with a 3rd edition on its way), and the OUP article "Advocating for the environment, charity law and Greenpeace: A New Zealand perspective". Juliet has authored 4 other books, several book chapters, numerous journal articles, as well as giving radio interviews and podcasts, and producing a number of commissioned reports.
Stewart Donaldson, Principal Policy Advisor, Inland Revenue
Stewart is a fellow chartered accountant and lives in Wellington. He has worked for the New Zealand Charities Commission as an advisor and for the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission as the director of compliance and reporting. From 2016 Stewart has been a Principal Policy Advisor at Inland Revenue. Stewart has been a board member for several charities and not-for-profits.
Susan Barker, Director, Sue Barker Charities Law
Sue Barker is the director of Sue Barker Charities Law, a boutique law firm based in Wellington, specialising in charities law and public tax law. Since its founding in 2012, the firm has won several awards, including Boutique Law Firm of the Year at the New Zealand Law Awards. Sue is recognised by the International Charity Law Network as a Charity Law Scholar. Sue is also a director of the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand, and a co-author of the text The Law and Practice of Charities in New Zealand (LexisNexis, 2013). In 2019, Sue was awarded the New Zealand Law Foundation International Research Fellowship Te Karahipi Rangahau ā Taiao, to undertake research into the question “What does a world-leading framework of charities law look like?”. The final report from the Fellowship, entitled Focus on purpose, was released in April 2022 making 70 recommendations for charities law reform in Aotearoa New Zealand. More information about Sue and the research can be found at www.charitieslaw.co and www.charitieslawreform.nz.
