Charities « Australian Regulatory Compliance Review from Langes+ Lawyers

April 22, 2013

Reporting by charities

The ACNC has released the sample 2013 Annual Information Statement and 2014 Annual Information Statement Consultation Paper for consultation.

The information provided by a charity in the Annual Information Statement will be used to determine the charity’s entitlement to registration as a charity with the ACNC, their compliance with the ACNC Act and ongoing eligibility to receive tax concessions.

The AIS will require reporting of information additional to existing reporting obligations to ASIC or relevant State or Territory body.

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Posted 22nd April 2013 by David Jacobson in Charities

April 9, 2013

Draft statutory definition of charity

Treasury has released for comment a draft Charities Bill 2013 which will introduce a statutory definition of “charity”, applicable across all Commonwealth laws for the first time.

The definition is:

charity means an entity:
(a) that is a not-for-profit entity; and
(b) all of the purposes of which are:
(i) charitable purposes (see Part 3) that are for the public benefit (see Division 2 of this Part); or
(ii) purposes that are incidental or ancillary to, and in furtherance or in aid of, purposes of the entity covered by subparagraph (i); and
Note 1: In determining the purposes of the entity, have regard to the entity’s governing rules, its activities and any other relevant matter.
Note 2: The requirement in subparagraph (b)(i) that a purpose be for the public benefit does not apply to certain entities (see section 9).
(c) none of the purposes of which are disqualifying purposes (see Division 3) ; and
(d) that is not an individual, a political party or a government entity.

The definition will apply from 1 January 2014.

As a result of the introduction of a definition of charity and charitable purpose in the Charities Bill 2013, a number of consequential amendments to Commonwealth legislation and transitional arrangements are required. These are set out in the draft Charities (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2013.
(more…)

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Posted 9th April 2013 by David Jacobson in Charities, Not-for-profit sector, Tax

March 11, 2013

Governance standards for charities

The Australian Charities and Not‑for‑profits Commission Amendment Regulation 2013 (No. 1) has been registered and will commence on 1 July 2013.

This regulation specifies governance standards which registered entities must comply with in order to become registered under the the Australian Charities and Not‑for‑profits Commission Act 2012 and to remain entitled to be registered under that Act.

The ACNC governance standards cover:
•The purposes and not-for-profit nature of charities
•Accountability to members
•Compliance with Australian laws
•The suitability of those who govern charities
•The duties of those who govern charities

Transitional arrangements until 1 July 2017 have been adopted, including for State-registered incorporated associations.

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Posted 11th March 2013 by David Jacobson in Charities, Corporate Governance

January 29, 2013

Duplication of governance and reporting standards for charities

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has released a consultation regulatory impact assessment titled: Regulatory impact assessment of potential duplication of governance and reporting standards for charities (RIA).

The RIA examines ways to reduce regulatory duplication between the proposed Commonwealth governance and reporting standards and existing State and Territory requirements for charities registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

Background

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Posted 29th January 2013 by David Jacobson in Charities

January 15, 2013

Guide for board members of charities

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has published a Guide for board members and others who manage charities.

The Guide covers registering with the ACNC, Commonwealth tax concessions, ongoing obligations and proposed minimum governance standards.

It also includes a “ready reckoner” of key ACNC dates.

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Posted 15th January 2013 by David Jacobson in Charities, Corporate Governance, Not-for-profit sector

December 31, 2012

Draft governance standards for charities

The Government has released for public consultation a discussion paper on development of governance standards for charities registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) and draft regulations on the new ACNC financial reporting framework.

Final standards are expected to commence on 1 July 2013.

The standards will apply to registered charities, excepting basic religious charities. Charities will need to comply with these standards to be, and remain, registered with the ACNC. The governance standards are intended to reflect a minimum set of outcomes for registered charities.

The six draft governance standards cover:
• purposes and NFP character of a charity;
• accountability to members (for those charities with members);
• compliance with Australian laws;
• responsible management of financial affairs;
• suitability of responsible entities; and
• duties of responsible entities.

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Posted 31st December 2012 by David Jacobson in Charities, Not-for-profit sector

December 5, 2012

Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Register commences

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has commenced operation following Royal Assent of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 on 3 December 2012.

The Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) registers organisations as charities. Under transitional arrangements a charity that received charity tax concessions from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) before 3 December 2012, has been automatically registered with the ACNC, with no need to re-register.

Registration as a charity is voluntary. However, an organisation must be registered with the ACNC before it can receive any charity tax concessions from the ATO. It must also be registered to be eligible for other Commonwealth concessions, benefits or exemptions available to charities.

You can search the ACNC Register here.

If a charity is registered with ASIC, from the date it is registered with the ACNC some of its reporting obligations to ASIC no longer apply. But ASIC will remain as the organisation’s registry for some matters.

The dual roles of ASIC and ACNC are listed by ASIC here.

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Posted 5th December 2012 by admin in Charities

November 1, 2012

Charities Bill passed by Senate

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Bill 2012 and the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Bill 2012 have been passed by the Senate with amendments.

The bills have been sent to the House of Representatives for approval of the changes.

The amendments include:

clarification that the governance standards will be focussed on outcomes and will specify principles as to how the registered entity must achieve those outcomes, including proportional standards that recognise the size and nature of the registered entity;
provide for the maximum annual revenue for a deductible gift recipient fund (DGR fund) operated by a basic religious charity to be increased from $250,000, in line with changes to the thresholds for small registered entities; and
simplify the transition of entities to ACNC regulation where entities are operating a public benevolent institution (or multiple public benevolent institutions) or a health promotion charity (or multiple health promotion charities) and where the whole of the entity is not such an institution (that is, where the institution is notionally operated or conducted in-house, usually by an unincorporated religious institution) to ensure these entities transition appropriately to the ACNC, and both the operated institution of the entity, and the remainder of the entity keep the existing concessions they currently have access to.

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Posted 1st November 2012 by David Jacobson in Charities, Not-for-profit sector

September 21, 2012

Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Bills pass House of Representatives

The bills have been sent to the Senate for debate.

UPDATE 21 September 2012: The Assistant Treasurer has announced that the proposed 1 October 2012 date for the commencement of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) will be delayed until the Bills are passed by the Senate in October.

According to the Assistant Treasurer, the short delay to the commencement date will not have a material impact on the sector with the governance standards, including the external conduct standards, and the financial reporting framework not commencing until 1 July 2013 and the first financial reports for medium and large registered entities not falling due until after 1 July 2014.

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Posted 21st September 2012 by David Jacobson in Charities, Not-for-profit sector

September 11, 2012

Senate Committee Report on Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Bill

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services Inquiry into the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Bill 2012 has published its report.

The report recommends that the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Bill 2012 and 2 related bills be passed subject to 5 recommendations. The Coalition members of the Committee dissented.

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Posted 11th September 2012 by David Jacobson in Charities, Not-for-profit sector, Tax