This webinar is a step-by-step guide to completing the 2026 Annual Information Statement (AIS). It covers each question in the AIS and shows how to submit your charity’s Annual Information Statement in the ACNC Charity Portal.
We also have additional resources to help you.
- See our 2026 Annual Information Statement Guide for detailed guidance for each question
- Visit the 2026 Annual Information Statement Hub for a checklist of the information you will need.
- Sign in to the ACNC Charity Portal. See our guidance for help accessing the ACNC Charity Portal.
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Webinar transcript
Anne-Marie
Hi, I'm Anne- Marie from the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission. Thanks for joining me for our webinar about completing the 2026 Annual Information Statement or AIS.
Before we get into the AIS, I'd like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which I'm presenting from today, the Wurundjeri people, and pay my respects to Elders past and present.
I'd also like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the various lands on which you're joining us from today.
Today I'll be talking to you about what's new in the 2026 AIS, and we'll explain when your charity reporting is due.
Then we'll have a look at the exact questions in the AIS so you're familiar with how to access the AIS in the ACNC Charity Portal and how to answer each section.
This will be really helpful if it's your first time reporting to the ACNC, and is a good refresher for anyone who's done the AIS before.
So what's new in 2026? Question 3 asks about charity fundraising. The wording for this question is just a little different from last year.
In 2025, we asked if you intend to fundraise in the next year. In 2026, we're asking if your charity currently has a fundraising licence. It's important to note that you might not be required to have a licence for all fundraising activities. A fundraising licence might also have a different name depending on your state or territory.
In the financial section, we've also added some more information about related party transactions. The question is exactly the same as last year, but we've made it easier to understand what a related party transaction is and what you need to report.
We've also added some more guidance around charity programs when operating overseas. The main thing to keep in mind is that if your charity's sending money overseas, even if it's not working directly overseas, it should still list this as a charity program and list the relevant countries.
The next important thing to know is when do you need to report.
If your charity reports for a standard financial year from the 1st of July 2025 to the 30th of June 2026, you need to complete your Annual Information Statement by the 31st of January 2027.
We'd really recommend that you don't wait until the last minute to report.
The AIS is available for you to submit now, so you can go in and report now if you have all of your information ready. Reporting now will also mean you have plenty of time to contact us for help if you need to clarify any of the questions or if you need help accessing the Charity Portal.
If your charity reports for a calendar year, so 1st of January 2026 to the 31st of December 2026, your AIS will be due by the end of June in 2027.
If your charity was registered part way through a reporting period and you're unsure about what reporting period your first AIS should cover, we've got some helpful examples available on our website if you scroll down to the section titled ‘Information for newly registered charities’.
If you're still unsure or need a bit of extra help, feel free to give us a call on 13 22 62 from 1 to 5pm Melbourne/Sydney time.
Now before we jump into the specific questions in our AIS, our Commissioner, Sue Woodward, AM, would like to say a quick welcome.
Sue Woodward
Hi I’m Sue Woodward, and I’m the Commissioner for this Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, the ACNC, and I want to welcome you to our webinar today which I hope will be really useful and practical. But I want to start by recognising the contribution your charities make to Australian society. You do many amazing and varying things, and you often provide those services in very local communities.
As a registered charity, you do have reporting obligations that are really important because it helps show that you are transparent and accountable. Having a charities’ register that the public, donors and others can rely on is vital underpinning to trust and confidence in Australian charities. This trust helps you attract and retain members, volunteers and funding.
So today the team will take you through practical steps. But most importantly, remember, we’re always here to provide you with support. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to meet your obligations. So thanks again, both to those here for a refresher and a particularly warm welcome to those of you involved in charities who have only just registered with us. Thank you.
Anne-Marie
Now we'll move on to the specific questions in the AIS. As we mentioned earlier, they've been some small improvements from last year's AIS, but since these are only minor changes, we will show you the 2025 version of the AIS in this next section.
So any time you hear a mention of 2025, it will be 2026, but otherwise the form will look exactly the same in 2026. We also have an updated guide for you on the AIS for 2026. You can find that by visiting our website acnc.gov.au/2026AISguide.
You'll also be hearing from Kat in our Reporting team who is here to help explain the AIS questions.
To complete your AIS, you first need to sign in to the ACNC Charity Portal. You can also access the ACNC Charity Portal from the homepage at acnc.gov.au look for the blue button in the top right corner of the homepage.
You may already have an account from where you applied to register your charity, so you can log straight back in.
If you don’t, you can sign up now. Just make sure you’re using your own unique email address, not the generic charity address, this is because your portal account belongs to you. Multiple people at your charity should have their own account, so someone will always have access to reports if there are changes to staff.
That includes board members or trustees but could also include your accountant if you have one. An accountant can report for your charity, but it’s very common for small charities to report themselves. If you have any trouble either logging into the Charity Portal or signing up, we’ve got step-by-step guidance up on our website to help you.
Kat
So this is what your Charity Portal will look like when you sign in. You should see your name listed on the top right hand corner, and your charity’s name should also appear under the My Charities heading. Now, if you’re involved with more than one charity, you might have multiple charities listed in your Charity Portal account.
If you can’t see your charity listed, or another person’s name is showing, please read our guidance on the Charity Portal help page. You can also contact our helpful advice team on the 13 22 62 number from 1 to 5pm Victorian time. They’ll be able to help you with any Charity Portal issues.
Even if you don’t need to submit your AIS just yet, now’s the perfect time to make sure you can log into the Charity Portal and see whether your charity is listed. If you wait until the due date to call us for help, you’ll experience longer wait times, so we really recommend checking your Charity Portal access as soon as possible.
So once you’ve logged in, and can see your charity’s name, you’ll be able to see your charity’s reporting due date. That’s right under the heading Reporting, which is in blue on the far right of the screen. You can also find your reporting due date on your charity’s page on the ACNC Charity Register, along with your charity’s reporting period.
Anne-Marie
In the Charity Portal, click on your charity’s name, then you’ll be able to see the different tasks that you can complete. The first icon in the Charity Portal is Manage Reporting, and this is where you go to submit your Annual Information Statement. There are also sections to update your charity’s people, for example, if your board members change, and to update your charity’s other details, such as a new email address or constitution. The Manage Reporting section is where we’ll be focusing today.
So once you click on the Manage Reporting icon, you’ll be directed to a new screen where you see the icon ‘Start 2025 AIS’. So for our example charity, we also have last year’s AIS showing, as you can see to the right. If your charity is reporting for the first time, you won’t see previous years here.
When you see the word ‘Start’, that means you’re starting the AIS for the first time. After you’ve finished and submitted the AIS, it will change to ‘Amend’, like we have for the 2024 AIS. This just means that you’ve got the option to change your AIS later if you realise that you’ve made a mistake. If your AIS says ‘Resume’, that means you’ve started it, but you need to finish it and submit it.
Okay, so when we click the Start 2025 AIS icon, you’ll see a Confirm Details page, which is on your screen now. Click on the Start button at the bottom left of the screen to confirm your details. Your AIS should open automatically, but because most of us have pop up blockers on our internet browsers, you’ll need to click on the link that says ‘Click here if you are not redirected to the form within 10 seconds’. That’s circled in orange on your screen. Once you’ve clicked that, it will redirect you to the actual form.
Kat
So, this is what the AIS looks like. The very first link you’ll see on the heading Before You Start is the 2025 Annual Information Statement Guide. The guide covers all questions you might have about the AIS, so it’s a great resource and helpful to look at either before you start or to have open while you complete the AIS. Between the AIS Guide and our webinar today, you should have everything you need to confidently complete your AIS. If you have any trouble with anything, you can also call our helpful advice team on the 13 22 62 number. So in our webinar today, we’ll focus on the core questions for small charities.
Based on the specific characteristics of a charity, so for example, if the charity is medium or large, or if it’s a trust or Basic Religious Charity, you may get some different questions in your AIS. You can see all those questions with the guidance to you in our AIS Guide. You’ll also see some icons throughout the forms, so any mandatory questions will be marked with a red asterisk. A blue magnifying glass means that you don’t, you need to click onto it to verify the information, which you mostly see this with email addresses.
So if you see it, just make sure you click onto it, and then a green tick will appear to confirm the email is valid. You can find out some extra guidance by hovering your mouse over the help icon as well. It just looks like a little question mark. And at the bottom of each page, there will be a Save and Next button. If you click Save, you can then close the AIS and log back into the Charity Portal another day to finish it, or you can click Next to move on to the next page.
Anne-Marie
So this is the first section of the AIS which covers some general information about your charity. The first two fields are pre filled, and it’s your charity’s ABN and name. If your charity has a website, you can provide the URL here. If you don’t have a website, you could list a social media page instead, otherwise, just leave it blank. There’s no need to write in NA or don’t have one, if you don’t have one. This is because the field will only accept a website address.
So if you put text in instead of a website address, you’ll get an error. So just to reiterate, if you don’t have a website, you can leave this field blank. Next, you’ll be asked for your address for service. This is where we send your AIS reminder, so please make sure it’s an email that you’re going to check regularly. Unlike the email address you use to log into the Charity Portal, which should be unique to you, the address for service should be a generic email that multiple people in your charity can access to make sure you don’t miss AIS reminders, or other important messages from the ACNC.
If somebody’s away or leaves your charity, we want to make sure that you’re still able to access your charity’s Address For Service email. You can update it in your AIS, but you can also change your address for service email in the Charity Portal anytime throughout the year in the Manage Other Charity Details section. Your address for service will also appear with your charity’s details on the Register.
As you can see here, this will be the first time you come across one of these blue magnifying glasses. So type in your email and then don’t forget to click Verify.
You’ll be asked to re enter your email, and this is to make sure that you’ve entered the right email, because if there’s an error, we won’t be able to get in contact with you regarding AIS reminders and other important information. You can also list a physical address here, such as your charity’s office or a PO Box. If your charity is a company registered with ASIC, you do need to list an actual street address.
Kat
So on this page, we’ll look at your charity’s reporting details. First, you’ll be asked if your charity’s an incorporated association. If your charity is registered as a trust or a company, you won’t see this question at all. So for the purposes of the AIS, only answer ‘yes’ if your charity’s incorporated under one of these Acts listed here. If you are incorporated under one of these pieces of legislation, you’ll also be registered with a state regulator, such as Consumer Affairs or Fair Trading.
If your charity’s name has an 'inc' at the end, you’re probably an incorporated association. If that’s the case, click ‘yes’, then select the state or territory in which your charity is incorporated and provide your incorporated association number. If you don’t know what your incorporated association number is, you should reach out to your state or territory regulator.
Anne-Marie
In addition to this, you’ll also be asked about fundraising. Fundraising generally refers to activities such as soliciting public donations, so either in person or online, holding events to raise money, raffles and other games, corporate partnerships and crowdfunding.
As we mentioned at the beginning of our webinar, the question about fundraising is a little different in the 2026 AIS.
You will be asked if a fundraising regulator has issued your charity with a fundraising licence. Not everyone needs a fundraising licence as the rules for this can vary between states and territories. If you’re not sure whether you need to fund a fundraising licence in your state, check with your state or territory regulator.
Kat
We’ll just note here as well, fundraising is actually not regulated by the ACNC, it is regulated at the statutory level. You can visit our fundraising hub for more information and contact information for your regulator.
Next, we’ll ask for your charity size. This will be determined by the questions in the rest of the AIS. In this webinar, we’ll be looking specifically at the questions for small charities. Medium or large charities will get a few extra questions, so if your charity has an annual revenue of $500,000 or more, you can visit the AIS Guide to see the exact questions for your charity.
Anne-Marie
Now we’re up to the Charity Programs and Activities section, this is where you can tell us about the great work that your charity does in the community. First, you’ll be asked if your charity operated during this reporting period. Operating can include running charity programs or strategic work like planning. If you didn’t operate at all please click ‘no’ and you’ll be able to explain the reason. It’s important to remember if your charity isn’t operating for some reason, for example if you’ve only just been established or you aren’t operating yet, you’re still required to complete your AIS and just indicate here that you didn’t operate for that year. If your charity stops operating permanently you can wind up your charity and voluntarily revoke your registration. If you did operate, please explain how your work helped to achieve your charity’s mission or purpose. This description will appear on the register so you can share an overview of your work with the public.
Next you can add some more detail about your specific charity programs. A program is an activity or service, big or small, that your charity runs to achieve its mission. You’ll need to add at least one program, and you can add up to ten. Your program information will be saved for next year so if you run the same activities every year, you won’t need to redo this section in your next Annual Information Statement. To add a new program, click on Add a Program. You’ll need a name for your program; you might have a formal name for it but if not, you can give it a short descriptive name to help people understand what the program is.
You’ll also need to choose a classification. On the Charity Register people can search for charity programs by classification so choosing the right classification will help people find your services. Click on Search Classification to open the list. For example, let’s say your charity runs a foodbank each week as one of its programs. In the classification search you can search the option of foodbank. This means that when someone’s looking for a foodbank in their area, they’ll be able to find your program directly linked on the charity register. Not every program will have an exact classification match. You can use the keyword search, or you can look at the categories on the right hand side to narrow down your search and find the best fit. Once you’ve found the classification click Add. Accurately classifying your charity programs will help connect you with beneficiaries, donors and volunteers.
You’ll also be asked to select beneficiaries of the program, that’s who you’re working to help. You can see some of the beneficiary groups listed here such as children or people in rural communities. Then you need to list the location or the locations if there’s more than one for your program. People can search the register based on location. With our earlier example, looking at foodbank, giving an accurate location in this section means that someone who’s looking for a foodbank can find one that operates specifically in their area. If the programs run overseas select the box ‘This program is of Australia’ then list the countries. You can also provide a weblink if you have more information about this program available online. Click ‘Update’ to add your program.
Once you’ve clicked Update it will take you back to the main programs page where you can see all of your charity’s programs in the table. You can add more programs if your charity runs other activities. You can also have a look on the Charity Register to see programs that other similar organisations have listed. If any of your programs are run overseas, you’ll be asked a few questions about the type of international work that your charity does.
Well, at this stage we’re about halfway through the Annual Information Statement, so well done. As we mentioned before, you can always save and finish your Annual Information Statement. So, if you get to this point and you need a little break, just make sure you’re clicking the ‘Save’ button before you close your AIS, then remember to log back in before the due date to finish it off.
Kat
This next section looks at the number of employees and volunteers in your charity. The first question asks us if your charity has any paid staff. You’ll need to list how many are full time, part time or casual. If your charity is run just by volunteers write zero in each of the boxes. For small charities it’s not mandatory to provide your full time equivalent staff figure but you’ll need to provide this if your charity is medium or large. You can find out more information about calculating your full time equivalent staff figure in the AIS Guide. Next up is Volunteers. This includes people who volunteer all year as well as those who volunteer on a one off basis. If you don’t have the exact number, please use your best estimate.
Let’s move on to the finance section. Providing financial information here will promote transparency and build public trust and confidence in the sector. Some charities find this part tricky but don’t worry we’ll be walking you through each question and you can refer to the Guide if you need more detail. We’ll be looking at the financial questions for small charities but check out the AIS guide if you want to see these questions for medium and large charities. First you will need to know if your charity uses cash or accrual accounting. Cash accounting records revenue when money is received and expenses when money is paid out. Accrual accounting on the other hand records revenue when it is earned and expenses when they are incurred. Medium or large charities must use accrual accounting.
Next, you’ll be asked about related party transactions. A related party is a person or an organisation that is connected to your charity and has significant influence over the charity. Related party transactions could include loans from or to a related party, salary or wages paid to a related party’s relatives, goods or services provided at a discount to a related party and many more. Related party transactions can be common for charities, and they can sometimes bring about benefits through, for example, access to discounted goods or services. However, it is important for charities to understand that and manage potential conflicts of interest and to report related party transactions correctly in the AIS. I’ll give you an example. So let’s say a board member for a charity is also a director of a web development company and the charity paid that company to update its website, this will be a related party transaction because the charity is paying an organisation to update run by a board member who falls into the category of a related party. So in this case, the charity would answer ‘yes’ to the first question. Then they will need to select the type of transaction from the list. So using the example I just provided, we will select ‘Fees paid to a related party for providing goods or services to the charity’.
Interestingly in our recent review of the annual formation statement and annual financial reports for the 2023 reporting year we found that 93% of charities we reviewed correctly completed the related party transaction section in the AIS. So it’s great to see so many charities nailing this part of the AIS as related party transactions can sometimes be tricky. We’ll pop the link in the chat for you to find out more information about related party transactions, including more examples on how to report them. If you are a medium to large charity, you also have a question about key management personnel remuneration. This is where you’ll provide some information about the benefits and salaries for board members and other senior staff, which you can also find out more information in the AIS Guide.
Next, you’ll be asked about your reporting period. So most charities report for a period of 12 months. You might be reporting for over or under a year in the first Annual Information Statement if you registered in the middle of your reporting period. If you aren’t sure, you can reach out to our advice team for more help. If you’re not reporting for a period of 12 months, click ‘no’ and then enter the period you’re reporting for.
Lastly, on this page is the question for financial reports. It’s not mandatory for small charities to submit a financial report, but you can choose to upload one. Providing your financial report can be a great way for charities to be transparent with the public, which helps improve the trust in the sector. If your governing document does require your charity to audit its financial report or to submit a financial report don’t forget to upload your report here. Medium or large charities do need to provide their annual financial report. Medium charities can have their report either reviewed or audited, and larger charities need an audit. In the AIS, medium and large charities will be able to see the specific details of what they should include in the financial report, and you can learn more information about annual financial reports on our website.
The next section covers your charity’s income and expenses. Here you will need to provide amounts for each item. This section will correspond with your charity’s income statement, which is also known as a Profit or Loss Statement. You’ll find out more details about what should be included in each category in the AIS Guide or by clicking More Information under each field. Don’t forget to enter the amounts in full Australian dollars with no cents, round up and down to the nearest dollar wherever required, and please don’t enter dollar signs, commas or decimal places. If you don’t have any income and expenses for any particular category, make sure you enter a zero.
So for income categories, these are revenue from government, donations and bequests, so which includes in kind donations, revenue from providing goods or services, revenue from investments, other revenue and any other income. So this includes any gains and investment losses. Your total revenue will be calculated automatically here. For expenses, the categories are employee expenses, grants and donations made in use in Australia and overseas and any other expenses. Your total expenses will be automatically calculated here, as well as your charity’s net surplus or deficit. As we mentioned, you can click on more information to see specifically what falls in each of these income and expenses categories.
Next up is the Balance Sheet, which is also known as the Statement of Financial Position. This is where you list your charity’s assets and liabilities. For small charities, you’ll be asked about your charity’s total assets, so that might include things like cash in the bank or the value of owned properties. For total liabilities, this could include any outstanding loans or unused grant funding that hasn’t been spent. Your charity’s net assets or liabilities will be automatically calculated and that brings us to the end of the financial section. There are just a few more short questions to cover and then your AIS will be ready to submit.
If your charity has a state or territory regulator, there might be a few extra questions. We’ve got an example from the ACT up on our screen now. We won’t go in too much detail here since the questions will vary depending on your state, but there will be things like your annual general meeting or known as the AGM date or the number of members your charity has. As we mentioned earlier, the ACNC works with other regulators to reduce red tape for charities, so if you’ve been registered as an incorporated association before registering with the ACNC, you may be required to report to your state or territory regulator. But now that you are registered with the ACNC, you only need to report to us by completing your AIS. We’ll then send this information to the other state and territory regulator to meet their requirements. By answering these extra questions, you won’t need to report separately to your state regulator, which means you don’t need to pay the fees associated with reporting to them.
Anne-Marie
So this last section of the AIS is your Charities Responsible People, and these are the people who govern the charity such as board members or committee members or trustees. This information will be used to update your charities responsible people on the Charity Register, so please make sure that the information you provide here reflects the current responsible people on the day you’re completing your AIS. Have a look through this list to see if anybody has left your charity. If that’s the case, click on their name and select the option to remove them. If you notice that one of your board members isn’t listed, you can add them below. You need to add all responsible people for your charity at the time you’re completing your AIS.
We’ll take you through the information you need for each responsible person. If you realise you don’t have all these details, just click the Save button, then you can resume later after you have the information on hand. When you’re ready to add people, click Add Responsible Person.
Now, just to note here that only the person’s name and position appear on the Charity Register, but we do ask for some additional details, so that if the person calls us to discuss the charity, we can confirm their identity. So, you’ll need to list their full name, their date of birth, their address, their phone number, and their email. If they want to create a Charity Portal account for themselves, they should sign up with the same email you provide them here. This should be an email that is unique to that person and not a shared charity email address. You can choose to provide some cultural and language diversity information as well, but this isn’t mandatory. You’ll need to list your responsible person’s position too, so example is a treasurer. And don’t forget to search their name on the ASIC register for banned or disqualified people.
Kat
Once you’ve added your responsible people, you reach the end of the AIS. So there will be an opportunity to review your charity submission before hitting Submit, as you can see on the screen. When you are ready, you can read through the Declaration and fill in with your details, that includes details such as your name, phone, email address and position. You also need to select the relevant declaration, so for example, if you are a board member, select responsible person.
Make sure to tick the box confirming all that all information you provided is correct and then enter the date you’re submitting your AIS, then hit Submit to lodge your AIS. To do this, look for the blue button in the bottom of the right hand side of the screen, circled in orange on the screen. Once you click Submit, you’ll see an on screen receipt. You can then download a PDF copy of your Annual Information Statement for your reference, and I highly encourage you to do so for your charitable records.
Anne-Marie
And that brings us to the end of the 2025 Annual Information Statement. Hopefully this webinar has helped answer some of the questions that you might have about the AIS and what information that you need to provide to complete your AIS. We have covered a lot of information in the webinar. So we’re just going to leave you with a few key takeaways for what you should be thinking about doing right now.
So the number one thing that you should be thinking of doing now and doing it right now is making sure you have access to the Charity Portal. When you log in, you should see your own name in the top right corner, not the name of somebody else at your charity. And under the heading My Charities, you should see your charity’s name.
The second tip is to know when your charity’s Annual Information Statement is due. You can see the due date in the portal or on your charities on the register. Our Advice team can also help you if you get stuck. And thirdly, keep records. Charities are required to keep operational and financial records, and having this information handy when it comes time to submit your AIS will make the process much easier. So make sure you’re keeping records now that you’ll need for your reporting. We have a checklist for before you start your AIS on the AIS Hub Page which will help you know what documents to keep handy.
Thanks again for joining us today to learn about reporting to the ACNC. I hope you have a great day. Thank you.