• Program design
• Grants, GST and acquittals
• Program management
• Community coach placement
• Program monitoring
• Research
• Recognition

Payment to community coaches

Payment to community coaches is made from Grant Application funding paid to schools or Out of School Hours Care Service (sites). Regional coordinators discuss payment parameters with community coaches when they have been selected to work with a site in the Active After-school Communities (AASC) program. Payment is determined via criteria in the Community coach costing guidelines.   

Payments to volunteer community coaches

AASC program guidelines advise that volunteer community coaches cannot receive payment for the delivery of activities. They may only receive an honorarium from the site to cover expenses associated with the delivery of the activities.

Are payments to volunteers assessable income?

Payments to volunteers can be in the nature of cash and/or non-cash benefits. They may be referred to as honorarium, reimbursements, allowances, or not described. How an amount is described does not determine its treatment for tax purposes. Whether an honorarium is assessable income in the hands of a volunteer will depend on the nature of the payment and the recipient’s circumstances. The amount of an honorarium is not a conclusive factor in deciding whether it is assessable income.

Generally, receipts which are earned, expected, relied upon and have an element of periodicity, recurrence or regularity are treated as assessable income.

Where a person’s activities constitute a pastime or hobby rather than an income-producing activity, money and other benefits received from the pursuit of that pastime or hobby are not assessable income. 

Examples:

Statement by a Supplier and tax

In general, an organisation must withhold 48.5% of the total payment if the supplier (in this case the volunteer community coach) has not quoted an ABN. An organisation may, therefore, ask a volunteer community coach to fill out a Statement by a supplier form , or reason for not quoting an Australian business number (ABN) to an enterprise.

It would be appropriate for the volunteer community coach to tick the first option, indicating that the supply (the activity in question) ‘is made in the course of an activity that is a private and recreational pursuit or hobby’. In other words, it is not the income-producing activity of the volunteer deliverer.

Completion of a Statement by a supplier does not automatically confer taxable status upon any payment to the volunteer community coaches. This would be determined by other factors as previously described.

As a general rule, volunteers do not have to pay tax on payments or benefits they receive in their capacity as volunteers, and non-profit organisations are not liable for pay as you go (PAYG) withholding and fringe benefits tax (FBT) on payments they make, or benefits they provide, to volunteers. There are exceptions to this and concerned individuals should contact the Australian Tax Office (ATO) directly to discuss their particular situation.

There is no legal definition of ‘volunteer’ for tax purposes. The dictionary explanation is someone who enters into any service of their own free will, or who offers to perform a service or undertaking. A genuine volunteer does not work under a contractual obligation for remuneration and would not be an employee or an independent contractor.

The Australian Tax Office provides detailed information on volunteers and tax on its website.This information is also available in booklet form by telephoning 1300 720 092 and quoting NAT number 4612.

Submitting invoices and claims

Sites will receive a mandatory Program Feedback Form to complete twice per year. Before submitting the form, sites will need to have received and paid any claims for payment or invoices pertaining to the delivery of the AASC program for the preceding two terms.

It is, therefore, critical that community coaches supply all claims for honorariums or invoices for services to deliver the AASC program to the respective site as soon as the program concludes. This is to avoid any complications with payments as sites are given a maximum of 30 days from the end of the program to submit the forms.