Taxation of Charities in Aotearoa New Zealand

Susan Barker LLB (Hons) (First class), BCA (VUW), CA is the director of Sue Barker Charities Law, a boutique law firm based in Wellington, New Zealand, specialising in charities law and public tax law. Since its founding in 2012, the firm has won a number of awards, including Boutique Law Firm of the Year at the New Zealand Law Awards. In 2019, Sue was honoured to be awarded the prestigious New Zealand Law Foundation International Research Fellowship | Te Karahipi Rangahau ā Taiao, New Zealand’s premier legal research award, to undertake research into the question ‘What does a world-leading framework of charities law look like?’. The report from the Fellowship, Focus on purpose, was released in April 2022, making 70 recommendations for charities law reform in Aotearoa New Zealand. More information about the research, including a link to the report, can be found at www.charitieslawreform.nz and www.charitieslaw.co.

Sue is recognised internationally as a Charity Law Scholar by the International Charity Law Network and has delivered guest charities law lectures at the University of Otago, the University of Auckland, and the University of Melbourne. Sue is also a director of the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand, a member of Charities Services’ Sector Group, and a member of the Core Reference Group for the Government’s 2018–2023 Review of the Charities Act.

A regular writer and speaker, both nationally and internationally, Sue is also a contributor to The Law and Practice of Charities in Aotearoa New Zealand 2ed (LexisNexis, 2024), Governance and Regulation of Charities: International and Comparative Perspectives (Edward Elgar, 2023), Charity Law: Exploring the Concept of Public Benefit (Routledge, 2022), Regulating Charities: the Inside Story (Routledge, 2017), and Corporate Governance — A Practical Handbook, 2ed (Wolters Kluwer, 2016).

In 2016, Sue was made an Honorary National Life Member of the National Council of Women of New Zealand Incorporated | Te Kauhinera Wāhine o Aotearoa for her work assisting the Council with charities law issues.