NZ Nonprofit Chart of Accounts for QuickBooks: Taxable Activity vs Exempt Income

The recurring mistake in New Zealand charity bookkeeping is treating “tax exempt” as exemption from everything. The income-tax exemption a registered charity holds is genuine, but it is narrow and does not reach GST or PAYE. So a charity running an op shop, selling event tickets or charging for services is inside the GST system even though its surplus is income-tax free. This is a New Zealand nonprofit chart of accounts for QuickBooks Online that keeps that boundary clear, as a readable reference CSV plus an import CSV for the structure.

Set up GST first

QuickBooks Online does not create New Zealand GST codes for you, so the starting point is to turn on GST under Taxes, create the GST agency, and add the rates (GST on Income, GST on Expenses, Zero Rated and No GST). The chart-of-accounts import then builds the structure, and you assign the codes from the CSV afterwards, since the import has no tax column.

Income-tax exempt does not mean GST exempt

This is the line the chart is built around. Registration with Charities Services and income-tax exemption do not remove a charity from GST. If it carries on a taxable activity and crosses the registration threshold, normal GST applies. So the income side is coded by what each receipt is, not by the organisation’s overall status.

Donations, grants and fundraising

The income accounts separate out-of-scope money from taxable trading:

• Donations and koha received, unconditional gifts, are outside GST and coded No GST.
• Grants received default to No GST, because most grants sit outside GST. A grant that is consideration for a specific supply can be subject to GST, so the account lists GST on Income as the alternative with a note to read the funding agreement. This is where charity GST most often slips.
• Fundraising and event income and membership subscriptions are taxable activity and use GST on Income at 15% when registered.

Op shop and programme costs

For charities that retail, cost of goods sold (shop) defaults to 15% on bought-in goods and lists No GST as the alternative for donated stock, which carries no input tax to recover. Programme and grant costs holds the spending that delivers the charity’s purpose, and volunteer and koha payments sit on No GST as generally outside the GST system.

Apportionment stays visible

A charity with both taxable and non-taxable activity recovers input tax only on the taxable part, so some costs need apportioning. QuickBooks cannot apportion for you, but keeping trading income, donations and grants in separate accounts gives the year-end calculation the figures it needs.

How to use it

1. Open the CSV: each account is mapped to its QuickBooks GST code, with alternatives and a note.
2. In QuickBooks Online go to Settings, then Import data, then Chart of Accounts, and upload the CSV for the structure.
3. Turn on GST, create the New Zealand rates, then bulk-assign the codes from the CSV.
4. Review each grant against its funding agreement before coding, so No GST versus GST on Income is a deliberate choice.

Coding each receipt to the right income or cost account is the ongoing work:

• Dext extracts GST and supplier from photographed bills.
• ExpenseFlow reads each receipt and bill, applies the right New Zealand GST treatment, and posts it into QuickBooks Online against the correct account, so taxable trading costs and out-of-scope items stay separated for the apportionment.
• Hubdoc brings recurring supplier invoices into the file.

On Xero instead? See the NZ nonprofit chart of accounts for Xero. For the detail on the exemption and taxable activity, see the New Zealand nonprofit expenses guide.