The Federal Government has announced a new national not-for-profit (NFP) regulator to oversee the regulations of charitable organisations.  It will be established by July 2012, and will be called the The Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC).

The ACNC will be an independent statutory agency and will assess whether an organisation is charitable, a Public Benevolent Institution or in another NFP category. The Australian Tax Office will provide support to the ACNC and continue its responsibility of administering tax concessions.

The ACNC will:

*  Implement a ‘report-once use-often’ general reporting framework

*  Provide education and support functions

*  Implement a public information portal by July 2013

*  Oversee the sector, including the use of not-for-profit tax concessions

*  Be responsible for guiding the introduction of a new definition for the term charity to be introduced for all Commonwealth laws from 1 July 2013.

For constitutional reasons, it is anticipated that the ACNC will initially only regulate Corporations Act companies and trustees until further negotiation is conducted with states and territories regarding national harmonisation of NFP regulation.

Should you require any assistance for your non-profit organisation, please contact the Principal Solicitor for GMH Legal, Mr George Hanna on 02 9587 0458.