Australia: What the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission will look like: Implementation Report released

On 12 June 2012, the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission Implementation Taskforce released an 'Implementation Report' outlining the process for the establishment of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC). The report is the result of consultations with the sector and provides an outline of the key action areas in the regulatory approach of the ACNC.

Charities and not-for-profits should review the content of the report to familiarise themselves with the key areas of the ACNC's regulatory approach. The ACNC is planned to commence operations on 1 October 2012.

The media release and report may be accessed here.

Key Action Areas

The five key action areas underpinning the functions of the ACNC are:

1. Registering entities

The ACNC will register entities as registered charities. The ATO retains the role of assessing access to tax concessions but must accept the ACNC's determination of charitable status.

2. Developing a reporting framework

Charities will lodge annual information statements from 1 July 2013 for the 2012-2013 year. The first annual information statement will collect non-financial information only.

The ACNC will also develop and implement a charity passport comprising a set of data that charities report once to the ACNC to meet the basic corporate and financial reporting requirements of Australian Government agencies. This data will be electronically available to authorised Commonwealth Government agencies on a confidential basis through the ACNC information portal and is intended to reduce red tape.

Charities will need to continue to meet current state and territory financial reporting requirements.

3. Going online: Public information portal

The public information portal will be accessible via the ACNC website by July 2013. Charities will be able to update their own information, such as changes to officeholders, and submit their annual information statements and governing rules. The public will be able to search the public information portal for details about charities including governance structures, purposes, activities, contact details and annual reporting information.

The public information portal will also enable users to search on the activities of a particular charity and details on a range of similar charities and their collective impact.

4. Guidance and education for the sector and the public

The ACNC will provide guidance material on its website to ensure that charities understand their obligations. The release of some guidance materials will be released before 1 October 2012. Additional materials about registration will be added to the website in time for the commencement of the ACNC on 1 October 2012, and material will be available prior to the reporting period for the first annual information statement.

There will be a clear demarcation between the ATO and ACNC guidance material to reflect their respective roles.

5. Engagement strategy with stakeholders

The ACNC proposes to establish regular meetings with key stakeholders to provide a vehicle for the sector to raise matters with the regulator and for the regulator to seek sector views. The ACNC Advisory Board also proposes to meet in major centres across Australia and conduct community forums to provide an opportunity for the broader community to engage with the ACNC. The ACNC also proposes a phone advisory service as part of its guidance and education activities so that charities and members of the community can seek general advice or raise concerns.

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This report does not comprise legal advice and neither Gadens Lawyers nor the authors accept any responsibility for it.