27 October 2016
The well-known Australian acting academy, NIDA has recently lost a claim in the Supreme Court for a refund of payroll tax of $2.5m.
NIDA claimed it was a “promoter of the arts” and accordingly should be treated as a charity.
It was accepted by the Court that NIDA was a non-profit organisation and had a “charitable purpose”. However, the Supreme Court disagreed that it should be refunded payroll tax because, it said, NIDA’s business was predominantly “a school or college”.
The Payroll Tax legislation makes some charitable organisations exempt from payroll tax but that exemption does not include tertiary colleges.
NIDA is a world-wide acclaimed acting academy including Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Sam Worthington and Mel Gibson amongst its alumni. It’s also a non-profit organisation but that’s not enough for it to be exempt from payroll tax.
