Registered Charities
Updated August 2009
Registration under the Charities Act has some significant implications for Māori.
This information sheet outlines the reasons why you need to be aware of this new legislation and the changes it brings.
On this page:
Many Māori are active social service providers. If you are involved in an organisation that has an entirely charitable purpose, your organisation could benefit from registration under the Charities Act.
A change to the tax law that came into force on 1 July 2008 says that a charity must be a "tax charity" to be eligible for tax exemptions on charitable grounds. The key way to be a "tax charity" is to be registered with us (under the Charities Act).
The Charities Act has some provisions that have particular relevance for Māori. Under the Charities Act:
The Charities Act established the Charities Services as an autonomous Crown Entity to ensure charitable organisations continue to receive public trust and support.
The Charities Services's main functions are to provide:
Registration with Charities Services is voluntary and began in February 2007, when we opened the Charities Register.
If your organisation currently has exemptions from income tax and gift duty, you are likely to have a letter of approval from Inland Revenue, which sets out those exemptions. To continue to be eligible for those tax advantages after 1 July 2008, you must register under the Charities Act.
Inland Revenue has published an Operational Statement - Interaction of tax and charities rules, covering tax exemption and donee status (OS 06/02), which explains the things charitable organisations must consider to qualify for tax exemptions on an ongoing basis.
You can get a copy from www.ird.govt.nz or by calling Inland Revenue on 0800 377 774.
The details of all organisations registered under the Charities Act are publicly available on the Charities Register. The Charities Register is a useful source of information for Crown funding agencies and others, as it clearly shows registered charities' services and who benefits from them, as well as financial and other information.
To qualify for registration under the Charities Act your organisation must have a charitable purpose, name and officers that comply with the Charities Act. See our information sheets Charitable purpose, The name of your organisation and Officer certification for more details.
Charitable purpose has a special meaning in the law that is more limited than the meaning people generally give to those words. In addition to meeting at least one of these four heads of charity:
The purpose of your organisation must also be directed towards the public benefit. This means that it must be for a benefit that is clearly identified and defined, and must be available to a wide section of the public.
Section 5 (2)(a) of the Charities Act says that the purpose of an organisation may still be charitable and may satisfy the public benefit requirement, even if the beneficiaries or members are related by blood.
Section 5 (2)(b) of the Charities Act says that a marae has a charitable purpose if the marae is on land that is a Māori reservation and the funds of the marae are used only for:
If you are a marae on land that is a Māori reservation, there will be a Gazette notice relating to the reservation of the land. It would help us if you could send a copy of the Gazette notice relating to the reservation of the land or the legal description of the land with your application for registration.
We may be able to register trusts established under Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 (Māori Land Act 1993) under the Charities Act, if they can clearly show they have a charitable purpose.
An order of the Māori Land Court under Te Ture Whenua Māori Act won't be automatically accepted as proof of charitable purpose under the Charities Act. We will review the terms of the order and the trust deed in relation to the definition of "charitable purpose" in the Charities Act.
We assess every organisation's application on a case-by-case basis to decide whether it has a charitable purpose.
Māori Trust Boards that have had declarations of trust approved as charitable by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue under section 24B of the Māori Trust Boards Act already have a charitable purpose. It would help us if you could supply a copy of the letter from Inland Revenue regarding the approval of the declaration of trust.
Charities Services recognises that Māori are adopting new structures to manage their fisheries resources and Treaty settlements. The range of purposes of these organisations may be wider than just being purely charitable.
However, within these organisations there may still be functioning charities (often as trusts), that could be separately registered under the Charities Act.
Please also read our information sheets:
Iwi / Māori organisations and the Charities Act
The information on this webpage is available in PDF format for you to view, download, or print.