Charity commissioner questions City Harvest..

[louisoh]

THE Commissioner of Charities has questioned City Harvest Church (CHC) about its $310 million stake in Suntec Singapore.

The money spent includes renovation and rental costs, the church said. CHC has not created a separate business entity for the purchase of the property.

But in the wake of the announcement, questions surfaced among the public about whether religious organisations - which are registered as charities - should be allowed to go into business using what are essentially donor funds.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/the%2BS...20-205694.html

[exxondus]

read about this too. think they renting the place and not investing (assuming they don get to profit) right?

[sportee]

read about this too. think they renting the place and not investing (assuming they don get to profit) right?

if they are renting the place, it would not be a big hoo hah liao...

[sportee]

Suntec is owned by Suntec REIT which is listed in the singapore exchange. Therefore, i believe that they buy into the shares of Suntec reit and therefore, has a stake in the shopping mall and offices. This suntec reit pays out dividends regularly from its rental and as a REIT in singapore, all reits listed in the SGX would need to pay out 90% of their net income.

[KuchingKu]

Maybe they have a mandate to achieve good return on investment (donation) like hedge funds.

CHC turned from a 20 members cell group to a 33,000 strong community....like a super hihg-achieving organisation. I think growth outperform many blue chip company.

[Nooch]

Tats scary, think CHC should be more transparent

[sgirforum]

Not suprising I guess since there already tonnes of charity org which declared amongst "the richest" ....it seems nowadays start up a charity org then start a company

[exxondus]

I waiting for CHC to reach IPO.

[sportee]

Suntec Convention Centre(SCC) has announced in recent weeks agreements with both City Harvest Church (CHC) and Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). Suntec REIT has a 20% interest in ARA Harmony Fund, which owns SCC. SCC and RWS signed an exclusive agreement in early March to cross-sell each other to “create real business opportunities for both venues”. Meanwhile, CHC has bought a stake in ARA Harmony Fund. CHC is spending S$310m in total on the acquisition, rental costs, and renovation costs and so on. The new relationship with CHC, in our view, brings SCC several steps closer to its goal of adding more stability to its revenue mix. Suntec’s manager has re-iterated that the REIT could potentially acquire all of SCC in “two or three years” time. We do note that CHC may be keen to maintain its ownership stake, however: it has cited its preference for a “more financially sustainable ownership model in the long term”. We maintain our BUY rating and S$1.44 fair value on Suntec

[louisoh]

Spirits remain high at City Harvest Church
by Alicia Wong
09:10 AM Mar 22, 2010
SINGAPORE - Spirits remained high at City Harvest Church (CHC) yesterday, in spite of recent news that authorities are seeking clarifications on its business venture.

The mega church announced two weeks ago that it had become co-owner of Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The venture, which is expected to cost about $310 million, raised eyebrows as the church did not create a separate business entity to undertake this acquisition.

As a registered charity, CHC's income - expected to include profits and dividends from space rental and tenant leases in Suntec Singapore in the future - is non-taxable.

MediaCorp understands that the church was supposed to meet with the Commissioner of Charities yesterday.

In response to queries on Saturday night, a church spokesperson said: "The CHC Management Board is currently in discussion with the relevant parties and a statement will be issued shortly."

Church members gave the thumbs-up when asked for their thoughts on CHC's co-ownership of Suntec Singapore. Most of those that MediaCorp spoke to said they were happy with the centralised location of the new premises, and trusted the church to put the profits earned to good use.

Businessman Mr Koh believed the church would sort out the issues with the relevant authorities.

"It's only been two weeks since the announcement ... we should give them time," said the 64-year-old businessman who declined to give his full name.

Mr Reuben Lim said the church would "plough back the money into charitable causes". The 45-year-old manager noted that CHC has helped countries that have experienced natural disasters.

But while operations executive Pamela Lim, 42, felt that CHC should not be taxed, fellow church-goer Purandi Kertonugroho, 39, said it should pay taxes on profits derived from the venture.

During its service yesterday, the church told its members it would update them next week on the progress of its fund-raising for the new premises. Alicia Wong

[overcrash]

i personally think thy shall be taxed...
its only fair.
when businessman are getting taxed on their hard earn profits.
normal people like you and I are getting taxed on our personal earnings.
why shouldnt their money be taxed?
so what if it is for charitable causes?
the point is the source of the money, and not the direction it is going to.
I also donate a fair bit to charity, so can my income be non-taxable too?

[sportee]

Think end of the day, they should just start another entity to take care of the biz aspect... so that will be clearer and simpler..

[exxondus]

i personally think thy shall be taxed...
its only fair.
when businessman are getting taxed on their hard earn profits.
normal people like you and I are getting taxed on our personal earnings.
why shouldnt their money be taxed?
so what if it is for charitable causes?
the point is the source of the money, and not the direction it is going to.
I also donate a fair bit to charity, so can my income be non-taxable too?

I tht when file income tax that time can stat how much we donated to charity and probably get some tax rebate?

[Watcha]

They should be taxed.

Otherwise we should start running business under charities name and be tax free.

I was at church Sunday and the pastor was asking people
to take care of the cushion for kneeling. It cost 20k and should
last as long as possible.

Contrast with modern style entity which are talking in millions.
Bringing in tax free revenue size of listed companies.

That's why they should be closely monitored.
Given opportunity, there is always chance of corruption.

If they crossed the line into commercial entity, they should
be taxed. Or else there will be a loophole to exploite.
Nevermind if their members are huge and powerful.

All entities have equal risk regardless of cause, religion, traditional, modern.

[Watcha]

I tht when file income tax that time can stat how much we donated to charity and probably get some tax rebate?

yeah double tax rebate.

If you donate 100. 200 of your income will be tax free.

So if you are at 20% bracket you actually only paid 60.