Make sure your charity’s contact information is up-to-date
When we contact your charity, we use the ‘Address for Service’, and if it’s not up to date, then we can’t reach you.
While the Address for Service (AFS) can be a physical or postal address in Australia, the vast majority of charities use an email address. When using an email address, we always recommend that charities use a generic or corporate style email address, rather than a personal one.
For example, it is a good idea to use something like ‘info@charityname.org.au’ and give more than one person in your organisation access to the account. This protects your privacy and means that if one person leaves, we can still contact your charity.
It is critical that we have a correct and up-to-date AFS for your charity so we can provide timely reminders about your obligations – particularly when the Annual Information Statement is due. One of the most common reasons that charities miss their reporting deadline is because they did not receive our reminders.
It is also important to ensure that you enter your AFS correctly. Spelling errors and other mistakes in your AFS will mean that our correspondence does not reach you.
You can check your charity’s AFS details on your charity’s Charity Register listing at acnc.gov.au/findacharity. If your AFS needs updating, you can do so in the Charity Portal at charity.acnc.gov.au.
Upcoming due date for 2016 Annual Information Statements
Nearly half of all registered charities use a calendar reporting period (1 January to 31 December). For these charities, the 2016 Annual Information Statement is due soon.
To help these charities, we have released a series of resources to make the submission process easier for all registered charities.
These include a checklist, a draft worksheet and a question-by-question guide. Visit acnc.gov.au/2016AIS to read more or to submit.
Failing to submit your Annual Information Statement may result in consequences that range from receiving a red mark on your Charity Register listing, to financial penalties or ultimately having your charity status revoked – and losing access to Commonwealth tax concessions.
If you have any questions or concerns, contact our friendly Advice team on 13 ACNC (13 22 62) or email advice@acnc.gov.au.
Late filer charities risk penalties
Did you know that 93% of charities with a financial year reporting period have submitted their Annual Information Statement? The remaining 7% are at risk of financial penalties. To avoid penalties, charities are urged to submit now!
Since the summer edition of ACNC Quarterly, thousands of registered charities have submitted their Annual Information Statements.
While the majority of charities have done the right thing and met their reporting obligations, thousands of Annual Information Statements are still outstanding.
The ACNC Act gives the ACNC the power to issue financial penalties to registered charities that fail to meet their obligations. In February 2017, we issued penalty warning notices to several large charities (with annual revenue of $1 million or more) who failed to submit their 2015 Annual Information Statements. Most of these charities had reports that were 12 months overdue.
Further penalty notices may be issued to other charities that refuse to submit their outstanding Annual Information Statements and annual financial reports.If your Annual information Statement is overdue, act now!
You can submit your Annual Information Statement online at charity.acnc.gov.au.
Making it easier: submitting the 2017 Annual Information Statement
Each year registered charities are required to submit an Annual Information Statement, and we’re always working with the sector to make this process quicker and easier.
We want to thank everyone who participated in consultations following the 2016 Annual Information Statement process. In response, we’ve made a number of changes to the 2017 online form, including:
- Improved auto-calculation for figures entered in the financial sections of the Annual information Statement form
- The ability for charities to update details of their responsible persons through the online Annual Information Statement form, as well as upload their annual reports
- The collection of information about charities’ full-time equivalent (FTE) staff.
- Clearer alignment between questions about charities’ activities and beneficiaries.
- Improved wording and guidance for charities intending to report as Basic Religious Charities. This follows a number of errors in this area during the 2016 Annual Information Statement process.
We’re also refining the help text featured throughout the online form, with better links between the form, resources on the ACNC website and support through the 2017 guide.
Importantly, this year’s Annual Information Statement will drive some of our most significant red tape reduction efforts yet. The ACNC is working with states and territories to reduce duplication in reporting on fundraising and incorporation details.
The 2017 Annual Information Statement online form will be available in late July; however, charities can begin preparing now.
Read more at acnc.gov.au/signingforms.
Reviewing your governing documents
All charities, except for basic religious charities, are required to comply with the ACNC Governance Standards.
When the Governance Standards were introduced in 2013, they included a temporary exemption (called ‘transitional arrangements’) that gave charities that weren’t compliant with a particular aspect of the Governance Standards some time to make any necessary changes to their governing documents (also known as a constitution, rules of association or trust deed).
The transitional arrangements were always intended to be temporary, and they will expire on 30 June 2017.
We think that for almost all charities, their governing documents will not require any changes. However, it is always a good idea to review your governing documents from time to time, such as at your next annual general meeting.
We will discuss how and why charities should review their governing documents in our next free webinar, ‘Running a charity’, on 23 May 2017. Register at acnc.gov.au/webinars.