Private ruling: Not for profit - income tax exempt
Date of advice: 7 August 2025
Published: 20 October 2025
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 20YY | Year ending 30 June 20YY | Year ending 30 June 20YY | Year ending 30 June 20YY
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 20YY

Ruling: Q1: Is the Club exempt from income tax under section 50-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) as a society, association, or club established for the encouragement of a game or sport under item 9c.1(c) in section 50-45 of the ITAA 1997? | A1: Yes,the Club is exempt from income tax under section 50-1 of the ITAA 1997 as it is a society, association or club established for the encouragement of sport under item 9.1(c) of section 50-45 of the ITAA 1997, satisfies the special conditions in Section 50-70 of the ITAA 1997, and is not an ACNC type of entity meaning section 50-47 of the ITAA does not apply.


Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 50-1 | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 50-45 | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 50-45 | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 50-70


The Club is registered as an association under the appropriate state legislation. | The Club was established several decades ago to operate and promote mixed sports within the district and build a clubhouse on the sports ground. | The land on which the Club is located is leased from the local council on long term renewable leases. | The Club owns the clubhouse and facilities. The clubhouse includes catering, entertainment, and gaming facilities.as well as viewing platforms and verandas overlooking the sports grounds. | Income from the catering, entertainment, and gaming activities undertaken by the Club is used to support the sporting related activities and facilities of the Club. | Multiple sporting facilities are located on these grounds, along with changerooms, a canteen, and car parks. | The Club promotes its sporting activities through its website, social media pages, printed signs and flyers. The Club website gives prominent and equal footing to both sporting events, programs, and facilities and the social and entertainment activities used to raise funds for sporting activity and facilities. | The Club has tailored its promotional program to maximise engagement with local audiences and encourage participation in sport. | The Club also runs sport specific social media pages. These pages are devoted solely to sporting events, programs and celebration of club members' achievements. XXX rates the reach of specific postings on the Club XXX page in the tens of thousands. The Club also advertises its XXX programs through other popular online sites. | Netting printed with logos and text advertising the sporting teams involved with and activities undertaken by the Club are strung along the fences around the sporting facilities, and a large sign with these logos and text is painted onto the end of the club house building. | The Club also uses these printed materials to advertise its sporting activities, teams, and programs on local billboards by the side of main roads and in popular shopping malls. | The car parks are located amongst the sporting facilities and are also adjacent to the clubhouse entrance. The clubhouse entrance is signed with the Club logo and the Club name. | The Club distributes printed posters advertising sporting programs undertaken by and at the Club and prints flyers that are available throughout the club house building and actively distributed by staff at contact points throughout the club house. The Club also advertises sporting programs through local newspapers and magazines and school newsletters. | The Club foyer features these posters and notices prominently, and further advertising of activities and events is displayed on digital screens throughout the club house. | A range of trophies and other awards to Club members and teams are displayed in a large trophy cabinet, and a large timber honour roll is mounted on the wall. | The stated objects of the club in the constitution include the promotion and encouragement of sport and community values and the provision and maintenance of a club house, and whatever other activities are determined by the management committee to be necessary to the furtherance of these objectives. | The Club constitution allows for ordinary, social, life, and honorary membership. All ordinary members are required under the constitution to pay a joining fee and are entitled to vote at Club meetings. | The constitution provides for the management of the Club through an annual general meeting at which a management committee is elected. The management committee is required to meet on a regular basis. | Under the Club constitution the management Committee is to consist of a president, a vice president, a secretary, a treasurer, and several further committee members as determined at a meeting of ordinary members. | The management committee must keep a register of members and have this register ready for inspection by any member who requests such an inspection. | The Club secretary is required to keep minutes of management committee meetings in a book which is to be open for inspection by any ordinary member on application. | The treasurer is to prepare financial statements each year and these are to be examined by an auditor for presentation at the next annual general meeting. | Under the Club constitution income and property of the Club is to be applied solely to the objects of its constitution and the Club may not distribute or pay anything by way of profit to its members. | The Club is also prohibited from paying or distributing any surplus property or assets to its members on dissolution. | Club members number in the tens of thousands, but a much smaller number of these are financial members. | The Club does not keep records of the numbers of members using the sporting facilities but club members are known to make up a significant portion of those numbers. | All but one of the current committee members are otherwise involved in sport in the local area. | Annual general meetings and management committee meetings were held in accordance with the substantive governing provisions in the Club constitution in the 3 financial years prior to the relevant financial years. | Maintenance and development of sporting facilities and activities featured prominently in discussions at Management Committee meetings, alongside discussion of fund raising to support this maintenance and development activity. | Sporting activities undertaken by the club include operation of multiple sporting facilities, coaching services, and hosting competitive events over a range of different sports. | The Club runs sports programs in a number of local schools and has hundreds of junior participants from various schools using the facilities on a weekly basis. | In the 3 financial years prior to the relevant financial year the Club ran multiple sports programs across several sports. These programs were directed to a diverse range of participants from the community and were attended by hundreds of participants on a weekly basis. | The Club also hosted a number of tournaments and competitions at several levels in this time, and fielded many teams and a number of individuals in local, state, national, and international competitions. | The Club also won multiple awards from state and local sporting and other bodies, and hosted events attended by representatives of relevant state and national sporting organisations. | Club income and expenditure are in the millions, and the Club made a substantial profit in the 3 financial years preceding the relevant period. | Large amounts of that income are derived from gaming and catering activities, and substantial amounts from that profit are dedicated to expenditure on maintaining and developing sporting facilities and activities, as well as contributions and donations to other sporting and community activities in the area. | The Club has also accumulated a substantial surplus over that time and has committed millions to the further development of its sporting facilities in the relevant period. | The Club is not an ACNC type entity.