Thursday, November 06, 2008

Community health centres keep FBT concession

Community health centres will maintain their Fringe Benefits Tax and other charitable concessions following legislation introduced into State Parliament by Health Minister Daniel Andrews.
The legislation stems from a review of governance and accountability arrangements for Victoria’s 39 independent community health centres.
The review followed an Australian Taxation Office decision to apply the Federal Court ruling in the case with the Ambulance Service of NSW.
The consequence of that decision was to revoke the endorsement of independent community health centres as Tax Concession Charities or Deductible Gift Recipient endorsement as public benevolent institutions or health promotion charities. But the decision was not applied however by the ATO.
The Bill removes existing legislative controls over community health centres contained in the Health Services Act 1988. This means that the Government will no longer be involved in appointing board members or the CEO. The Bill will continue to allow voluntary amalgamations with a public hospital or health service.