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This was published 7 years ago
Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission revokes status of seven ACT charities
The national charity regulator has revoked the tax-deductible status of seven ACT organisations after they failed to provide two annual statements in a row.
The number of "double defaulters" in the territory has steadily dropped year-on-year since the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission began enforcing the rule.
Commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission said the revocations ensured "trust and confidence" remained in the not-for-profit sector.Credit: Penny Bradfield
The revoked organisations, all of which were published on the commission's website, included charities dedicated to support people in the Indigenous, queer and student communities.
The commission mandates that most charities submit an annual information statement including information about annual turnover, areas of operation and the number of staff or volunteers.
If two statements were not submitted by the due date, the commission would send a warning notice and publish a list of the charities at risk of revocation, giving the affected organisations about a month to enter the necessary information.
Nine of the 16 ACT charities at risk of "double defaulting" earlier this year subsequently submitted their statements by the March 27 deadline.
The seven remaining charities were deregistered earlier this month as part of 590 revocations nationally.
That number, however, was a lower rate than the 5500 charities deregistered at the same time last year for failing to submit the information statements.
During that period, only 500 warned charities submitted the necessary statements in time to avoid revocation.
An ACNC spokeswoman said charities were gradually coming to understand reporting requirements in the sector, which were introduced upon the commission's creation in 2012.
Many of the charities deregistered in the commission's first five years of operations were either duplicates with more than one ABN, or organisations that had ceased to operate.
"Revocation for failing to report is always a last resort for the ACNC, and we prefer to work with charities to get them back on track," the spokeswoman said.
"All registered charities that are no longer operating are required to notify us when they wind up as part of their obligations to the ACNC."
Some of the deregistered ACT charities had not previously been required to submit annual information statements due to registering with the commission within three months of a reporting date.
The charities were given the option during that time of submitting an information statement about the three months or less left in the reporting period, or submit a statement covering the additional time the following year.
ACNC commissioner Susan Pascoe said revocation for non-complaint charities was a way of ensuring integrity in the sector.
The charities that had the status revoked would not be able to use a "registered charity tick" introduced last year to provide verification for legitimate organisations.
"Revoking charities that fail to meet their obligations is an important part of maintaining trust and confidence in the not-for-profit sector," Ms Pascoe said.
"The public need to be confident that the national regulator is only displaying eligible charities on the charity register."