Registered Charities
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ONLY NINE MONTHS UNTIL TAX LAWS CHANGE! HAVE YOU APPLIED TO REGISTER YET?
Remember, we are only able to backdate to the date we received your correctly completed application. Therefore, for applications received after 1 July 2008, you will be outside the changed tax laws from 1 July until the date we receive your application. We strongly advise you to apply now to avoid any uncertainties. Most organisations have been granted exemptions from filing their first annual return until 2009, so there’s no reason to delay applying!
1,554
3,901
Note: If you don’t hear from us straight away confirming that we have received your application, don’t be concerned. As we are busy processing applications, you may not hear from us until you are registered. If we need further information from you, we will be in touch.
Current processing times are as follows:
The “big three” most common:
Areas of operation were as follows (note: the total is greater than the total number of registered charities, as some organisations tick two or more categories on their application):
You can register online at www.charities.govt.nz, download application forms from our website, or call our Contact Centre on freephone 0508 242 748 to request a copy of the forms.
We’ve just upgraded our website, so if you are logging onto the Charities Register to complete your application, or wish to see your details, you will need a new password. To generate your new password, all you need to do is:
A new password will be automatically emailed to the contact email address you have supplied.
You can keep your new auto-generated password, or (once logged on) change it to something else if you prefer.
Our apologies for any inconvenience – but we are sure you will find the upgraded website much better to use.
Following your requests, we have provided abbreviated PDF versions of the forms on our website, so there’s no need to print the help pages. We expect that this will be particularly useful if you need to print a number of Officer Certification Forms and wish to reduce the amount of paper you are using. All forms can be found here.
We have already been sent a number of annual returns that we don’t require yet, including from entities that: are not registered or have an exemption from filing as their financial year covers less than six months of their registration with us.
If you fall into one of these categories please note that you are not yet required to file an annual return.
The Accounting Standards Review Board (ASRB) has deferred mandatory NZ International Financial Reporting Standards (NZ IFRS) implementation for some small New Zealand entities. In short, they can keep applying the accounting standards they have been applying in the past, rather than adopt NZ IFRS if they don’t want to.
Many New Zealand based charities will be affected by this decision.
The Ministry of Economic Development is also considering the financial reporting regime for charities. It is not yet known what the outcome of this work will be.
The option to delay the adoption of NZ IFRS is open to:
If your charitable organisation is a small entity required to prepare general purpose financial statements, you may continue to apply the existing financial reporting standards in the meantime.
For more information refer to media releases at www.asrb.co.nz or www.nzica.com, or visit http://www.knowledgeshop.co.nz/Network/News/p rofile.asp?DocumentID=2206.
Our annual meetings are coming up very soon!
We are still in the relatively early stages of registering charities, so we warmly welcome all registered and unregistered charities to attend this year. Please pass this invitation on to all the charities you know.
At each annual meeting, the Commission will report on the operation of the Commission during the preceding financial year, table its financial statements for that year, and report on anything that it believes may significantly affect the charitable sector.
Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions about the Commission’s operation during the 2006-7 year.
The agenda will include an afternoon tea break with a chance to talk to the Board and some Commission staff, as well as other charities in attendance.
For catering purposes we would prefer you to RSVP by phoning the Commission’s free information line 0508 242 748.
Venues are as follows:
(held on 19 November)
Wednesday 28 November, 2pm - 4.30pm
Canterbury Horticultural Hall Hagley Park South, Riccarton Ave
Thursday 29 November, 2pm - 4.30pm
Dunedin Public Art Gallery Conference Room 30 The Octagon
Monday 3 December, 2pm - 4.30pm
Fickling Centre 546 Mt Albert Road, Three Kings
Tuesday 4 December, 2pm - 4.30pm
Bureta Park Motor Inn, Redwood Room Vale Street, Otumoetai
We look forward to seeing you there!
We have just published our position paper on charitable purpose and sport and recreation bodies. To read it, go to the ‘other resources’ section.
Our Chief Executive Trevor Garrett was recently interviewed on the Ethnic Women programme on Wellington Access Radio about the work of the Charities Commission. To listen, visit www.accessradio.org.nz, click on the ‘Ethnic Voices’ section, then ‘Ethnic Women’ and listen to the 16 October programme.
An issues paper The tax treatment of honoraria and reimbursements paid to volunteers has been released by Inland Revenue. It explores a number of options for clarifying and simplifying the tax treatment of reimbursements and honoraria paid to volunteers. The paper seeks feedback on suggested ways of dealing with current uncertainties in the tax law relating to these payments to minimise, as much as possible, compliance costs for volunteers and non-profit organisations. Submissions close on 14 December.
For more information see the government's media statement and the issues paper, "The tax treatment of honoraria and reimbursements paid to volunteers" at http://www.taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz.
We will be presenting our Annual Report at our annual meetings. To request a copy please call freephone 0508 242 748 or email info@charities.govt.nz. You can also view our Annual Report online.
Do you live in or around Tauranga? You may be interested in attending a Charities Commission workshop in December.
Date: Monday 3 December 2007 Time: 5:45pm – 7:30pm Venue: TECT Theatre, The Historic Village, 17th Avenue West, Tauranga
The format of the workshop will be:
Resource material and information will be provided at the workshop.
Numbers for this workshop are limited, so a confirmed booking is essential. To obtain a booking form and for any other queries please phone The Volunteer Centre, (07) 571 3714.
Update newsletter: October 2007
The information on this webpage is available in PDF format for you to view, download, or print.