NDIS Registration—We originally planned to publish this as one episode, but it became far too long, hence the breakup into Part 1 and 2.
NDIS Registration Part 1
Your NDIS registration can indirectly influence your GST exemption. Hence, we need better to understand the ins and outs of NDIS registrations. Astrid Rivalland and Helen Young of LegalVision kindly agreed to answer all our questions about NDIS registrations. Here is what we learned, but please listen as Astrid and Helen explain all this much better than we ever could.
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How does an NDIS Registration impact your GST?
At first sight, GST has nothing to do with whether you are registered with the NDIA.
s38-38 GST Act
Per s38-38 of the GST Act, says that a supply is GST-free if it meets the four requirements:
- There is an NDIS plan in effect.
- The supply is listed in this plan as reasonable and necessary support
- There is a written agreement between supplier and participant – can be an invoice, an email, a reference to terms and conditions.
- The NDIS Determination covers the supply. It is a schedule in which the legislator lists the types of supplies that the NDIS covers. For example, the determination lists household tasks, travel assistance, and interpreting in Table 1.
Now, you will have noticed that nowhere does it say that the supplier must be registered with the NDIA for the supply to be GST-free. There is no mention that you must be a registered provider to get the GST exemption. So, at first glance, NDIS registration and GST have nothing to do with each other.
You can provide GST-free services to an NDIS participant without being registered. The GST Act does not link the GST status of a service per se to an NDIS registration.
But indirectly, NDIS registration and GST can link in two ways:
1 – NDIA Managed
NDIA-managed participants can not use unregistered providers. So, if you are not registered, your supply to an NDIA-managed participant is not covered by the NDIS and hence not GST-free under s38-38. It might still be GST-free, for example, since it is covered by Medicare but not through the NDIS exemption.
2 – Contracting
You might need a registration to access specific funding in a participant’s plan. So, without a registration, you can’t access this funding. So, you might go through another registered provider rather than provide your service directly to the participant. In other words, you subcontract to a registered provider.
If you do that, you no longer provide a service to an NDIS participant but to this registered provider. Your service is no longer GST-free.
So, to summarise, the GST exemption in s38-38 doesn’t require an NDIS registration per se. But if registration is required to access the NDIS funding, then the two do start interacting.
This is why your NDIS registration status can influence your GST position. And why we discuss NDIS registrations in this episode and the next episode.
NDIS Registration
We start with the upcoming changes to NDIS registration, which will change from one type of registration to a three-tier registration framework.
We will look at the key players in the NDIS landscape. Notably, NDIS providers, plan managers, support coordinators, and local area coordinators (LACs).
We discuss—among many other things—how you can’t transfer a registration from one entity to another but must create a completely new registration. However, this might be easier the second time since you know what is required and might already have many of the documents you need.
But there is a lot more. Please listen to all the insights that Astrid Rivalland and Helen Young of LegalVision share in this episode as well as episode 428.
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