Another Charity Denied DGR Status
4 August 2011 at 11:40 am
Another charity has been denied Deductible Gift Recipient status by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal which ruled that Krishnamurti Australia Inc. is not a health promotion charity.
Krishnamurti Australia Inc.(KA) is an association promoting the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) an Indian philosopher and guru.
KA has been accepted as a “tax concession charity” but the Tribunal has upheld the Australian Tax Office’s refusal to grant DGR status as a “health promotion charity”.
KA’s argument was that Krishnamurti’s teaching promotes enquiry into the processes of human thought and by understanding those processes, psychological conflict may be reduced or eliminated for every individual who follows that course.
The Tribunal was told that that mental illness is the product of unresolved psychological conflict and thus the promotion of Krishnamurti’s approach has the result of preventing or controlling mental illness.
The Commissioner of Taxation argued that based on the evidence, the principal activity of KA was not prevention or control of mental illness. The Commissioner submitted that even if this were one of the subsidiary activities of the association it was a very minor component overall.
The Tribunal found that the principal activity of the organisation was the dissemination to the general public of the philosophical teachings of Krishnamurti.
It ruled that neither by expenditure, allocation of resources, statements of objects, subject matter of publications, nor by any other measure, could it be said that control or prevention of mental illness was a principal nor even a subsidiary activity of any significance.
Last week, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal ruled that Bicycle Victoria is an income tax exempt charitable institution, however it backed the Australian Tax Office in denying the bicycle lobby group Deductible Gift Recipient status.
The ruling was described by the organisation as a landmark decision.
The Krishnamurti ruling can be found at http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/AATA/2011/512.html
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/AATA/2011/512.html
Krishnamurti’s teachings help people to understand and end the fragmentation and conflict within the mind. Krishamurti explores with people the root causes of their mental disorder. In publishing and disseminating his teachings, Krishnamurti Australia is working to prevent and reduce mental illness, and should therefore be granted the tax exemption.