Are you involved in an organisation that has a charitable status?

If so there is now a national regulator for charities being “The Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission” (ACNC)

The following changes have been muted from the 1st October 2012:-

  1. The ACNC will be responsible for determining charity status for all Australian Government purposes and maintaining a charity register
  2. Existing charities endorsed by the ATO as income tax exempt will be automatically registered with the ACNC
  3. The ATO will continue to be responsible for administering tax concessions for charities
  4. That all charities registered with the ACNC will be required to submit an annual information statement and larger charities may also need to lodge their financial statements.

For further information you can access the following websites:-

http://www.ato.gov.au/nonprofit and select “Not-for-profit reforms”
ACNC Task Force
Visit http://www.treasury.gov.au and select “not-for-profit reform” under the heading “Business” for information on broader reforms for the sector