Registered charities have an obligation to report annually to the ACNC. This involves submitting an Annual Information Statement, and an annual financial report (for medium and large sized charities).
Charities must meet these reporting requirements, as well as other obligations, in order to retain their registration with the ACNC.
This guidance details the ACNC's processes for those charities that fail to submit two or more Annual Information Statements. We sometimes call these charities 'double defaulters'.
How we notify charities at risk of not meeting their reporting obligations
The ACNC makes numerous attempts to contact charities that are not meeting their reporting obligations.
Charities receive reminders before their Annual Information Statement is due, as well as overdue notices if they do not complete their annual reporting on time. These reminders are sent to the charity's Address For Service - the email or physical address the charity provides as its official point of contact.
We also include reporting reminders in our monthly e-newsletter, The Charitable Purpose.
Our website provides extensive information and guidance about the obligations that charities have to the ACNC, as well as resources to help them meet these requirements.
Consequences for potential double defaulter charities
If a charity fails to submit two Annual Information Statements, it risks becoming a double defaulter charity and, as a result, having the ACNC revoke its charity registration.
If a charity has its registration revoked, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will also remove its entitlement to charity tax concessions.
For more information about the consequences a charity faces if it does not complete its annual reporting, see our guidance:
Potential double defaulter charities the ACNC is unable to contact
When we contact charities through their Address For Service, we may receive unopened letters that have been returned to sender, or emails that have 'bounced' and not been delivered.
Both of these situations indicate that these charities may have changed their address and contact information without notifying the ACNC. It is a requirement for charities to notify the ACNC of changes to charity details.
If a charity fails to submit two Annual Information Statements, it may become a double defaulter charity. As a result, the ACNC can revoke its charity registration.
But because these charities have not provided us with their current contact information, it is unlikely they have received our reminders to submit their Annual Information Statements.
Since the ACNC is unable to directly contact these charities to notify them of our decision to revoke their registration, we provide formal notification through an official public notice.
Charities revoked as a double defaulter
When an organisation’s charity registration has been revoked, the following banner will appear on its public Charity Register profile when you search its name or ABN:
The ‘History’ tab shows the charity registration status timeline. If an organisation’s charity registration has been revoked due to not submitting its required reporting, the status ‘Revoked Double Defaulter’ will be shown:
Organisations that are still operating, but whose charity registration was revoked due to being a double defaulter, can apply for re-registration.
There are two key steps involved in applying to re-register as a charity with the ACNC:
- Complete any outstanding Annual Information Statements.
- Submit a new charity registration application.
Step 1: Complete any outstanding Annual Information Statements
Your organisation must complete all overdue Annual Information Statements before it can apply to re-register as a charity with the ACNC.
If the organisation wants to apply to backdate its registration date to the date it was revoked, it will also need to complete any statements due after its revocation date.
You will need an ACNC Charity Portal account to complete your outstanding Annual Information Statements.
Contact us for help linking your account to your organisation. You may need to complete a Form 3B: Change Charity Details to add yourself as an Authorised Person.
We will let you know which Annual Information Statements need to be submitted.
Step 2: Submit a new charity registration application
Once your organisation has submitted all outstanding reporting, it can apply for re-registration as a charity.
This can be done in the ACNC Charity Portal by completing the online application to register as a new charity. See our guidance on applying for charity registration for more information.
You can request to backdate your registration application to the date on which your charity’s original registration was revoked.
For more information about the application process, refer to our registration application checklist and guide and application FAQs.
Further information
- You can apply for charity tax concessions from the ATO when completing the ACNC charity registration application. If you request to backdate your registration to the revocation date, you can also apply for charity tax concessions from that date.
- If you need to lodge Annual Information Statements for previous years, you can refer to your organisation’s operational and financial records for those periods. Our Annual Information Statement guides can help you to complete your reporting.
- Organisations must complete a new charity registration application as part of any re-registration process because we need to be satisfied an organisation is still eligible to register as a charity. During this process, your organisation will have to provide us with current details about its purposes, operations, programs, governance, operating locations, Responsible People, financial plan and other information.