Cultural societies, clubs and associations are established to encourage art, literature, and music and provide a range of valuable of services like training, performing, judging, studying, displaying, and providing information about their topic area.
If you're a non-charitable not-for-profit (NFP) cultural organisation with an active Australian business number (ABN), you must lodge an NFP self-review return by 31 March 2025 to notify us of your eligibility to self-assess as income tax exempt.
To be eligible to self-assess as income tax exempt, you'll need to look at the main purpose of your cultural organisation and ensure it focuses on the encouragement of art, literature or music, or is for musical purposes. To qualify as income tax exempt, any other purpose must be incidental or secondary to the main purpose.
The main purpose of a cultural NFP could be:
- art, which includes performing arts such as drama and dance, as well as visual arts such as painting, architecture and sculpture
- literature, which includes a wide range of written or printed works, such as works in different languages, on particular subjects or by particular authors
- music, which includes the performance of vocal or instrumental works, and covers various styles for example classical, jazz and liturgical.
If your NFP's main purpose is to provide a social forum for its members or to promote a national cultural heritage, it cannot self-assess as an income tax exempt cultural organisation.
If all of your NFP's purposes are charitable purposes are for public benefit and it meets the legal definition of a charity, your NFP cannot self-assess as income tax exempt under this category. Your NFP will need to be registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) and be endorsed by us to access an income tax exemption.
To work out your organisation's main purpose, look at your NFP's constituent documents, activities, use of funds and its history.
If your NFP doesn't meet all the exemption requirements for this category, you should check whether it might be a different exemption category, or whether you might be taxable.
If you need help with preparing to lodge or understanding the return better, see ato.gov.au/NFPtaxexempt.