More Than 1,000 Organisations Lose Charity Status

The Australian charity regulator has revoked the charity status of 1,269 organisations for failing to complete two Annual Information Statements despite multiple reminders.

As many as 400 charities were revoked in New South Wales.

As a consequence of losing their charity status, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission said the charities would lose access to Commonwealth charity tax concessions, including deductible gift recipient status, income tax exemption, Fringe Benefits Tax rebates, and Goods and Services Tax concessions.

ACNC Commissioner Susan Pascoe AM said the Australian Taxation Office would be in contact with these charities in the near future to finalise these changes.

“These charities may now be required to submit an income tax return for their organisations and pay tax on the income they make,” Pascoe said.

“If these charities want to remain registered with the ACNC, they need to contact the ACNC as a matter of urgency and submit all their outstanding Annual Information Statements and financial reports.

“Out of the 2,431 that were notified last month, 1162 submitted their outstanding statements. This is a significant number and I would like to acknowledge these charities for understanding the seriousness of this process and correcting matters.

“It’s also important to recognise that some of the charities that had their statuses revoked last week may simply have ceased operations. This is not unusual, but I would like to remind charities about proper winding up procedures which include formally notifying the ACNC.”

The ACNC said the charities would receive official notice of their status revocation in the coming days and a list will be available here.