Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulations 2025

Administered by Department of the Treasury

Legislation au F2025L00171 In force Legislative Instrument

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EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by authority of the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury

Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Act 2012

Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulations 2025

Section 4 of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Act 2012 (Transitional Act) provides that the Governor General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the Transitional Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Transitional Act.

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (ACNC Act) establishes a framework for the registration and regulation of charities and not-for-profit entities. Under the framework, certain not-for-profit entities (‘registered entities’) are required to report annually to the Commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).

The Transitional Act provides that the Commissioner of the ACNC (Commissioner) may treat statements, reports or other documents given under an Australian law to another Australian government agency by a registered entity as being annual information statements or financial reports for the purposes of the ACNC Act, thus exempting certain registered entities from further reporting obligations. This exemption applies for certain financial years, with a power to extend the exemption to later financial years through regulations. The Australian Charities and Not‑for‑profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulation 2016 provides that this exemption applies for financial years between 2015 and 2024.

The purpose of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulations 2025 (Regulations) is to ensure the Commissioner can treat these statements, reports and other documents as annual information statements or financial reports for the purposes of the ACNC Act up to and including the 2028-29 financial year. This maintains the existing reporting arrangements and reduces duplicative regulatory burdens on registered entities for this period. This furthermore allows existing administrative processes the ACNC has established with other government agencies to share financial reporting information for the purposes of the ACNC Act to continue to apply.

An exposure draft of the Regulations was released for public consultation as well as consultation with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission between 3 December 2024 and 14 January 2025. Eleven submissions were received, which were broadly supportive of the Regulations.

The Act does not specify any conditions that need to be satisfied before the power to make the Regulations may be exercised.

The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 and are subject to disallowance by Parliament.

The Regulations commenced and applied from the day after registration.

The Regulations are subject to sunsetting under section 50 of the Legislation Act 2003.

Details of the Regulations are set out in Attachment A.

A statement of Compatibility with Human Rights is at Attachment B.

The Office of Impact Analysis has been consulted and agreed that an Impact Analysis is not required. The measure has no impact on compliance costs.

ATTACHMENT A

Details of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulations 2025

Section 1 – Name

This section provides that the name of the regulations is the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulations 2025 (Regulations).

Section 2 – Commencement

This section provides that the Regulations commenced on the day after the instrument was registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.

Section 3 – Authority

The Regulations are made under the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Act 2012 (Transitional Act).

Section 4 – Schedule

This section provides that each instrument that is specified in the Schedules to this instrument are amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedules, and any other item in the Schedules to this instrument has effect according to its terms.

Schedule 1 – Amendments

Part 2 – Reporting

Section 5

Section 5 extends the financial years in which the Commissioner of the ACNC may treat statements, reports or other documents given under an Australian law to another Australian government agency by a registered entity as being annual information statements or financial reports for the purposes of the ACNC Act. The Regulations extend the exemption from the 2024-25 financial year up to and including the 2028-29 financial year.

By maintaining the existing reporting arrangements under the Transitional Act, the Regulations prevent the imposition of duplicative financial reporting obligations on over 3000 charities.

Section 6

Section 6 preserves the operation of the Australian Charities and Not‑for‑profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulation 2016 (2016 Regulation) in relation to the financial year of 2015-16 and each subsequent financial year up to and including the 2023-24 financial year.

Section 6 also ensures that the Commissioner still has the power, after the repeal of the 2016 Regulation, to share financial reporting information for the purposes of the ACNC Act in relation to the financial year of 2015-16 and each subsequent financial year up to and including the 2023-24 financial year. This ensures that the Commissioner of the ACNC may treat statements, reports or other documents given under an Australian law to another Australian government agency by a registered entity as being annual information statements or financial reports for the purposes of the ACNC Act in relation to the financial year of 2015-16 and each subsequent financial year up to and including the 2023-24 financial year. Again, this prevents the imposition of duplicative financial reporting obligations for charities.

Schedule 1 – Repeals

Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulation 2016 

Item [1] – The whole of the instrument 

This item would repeal the whole of the instrument.  

 

 

ATTACHMENT B

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulations 2025

This Legislative Instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Overview of the Legislative Instrument

The Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulations 2025 (the Regulations):

•                 extend the financial years in which the Commissioner of the ACNC may treat statements, reports or other documents given under an Australian law to another Australian government agency by a registered entity as being annual information statements or financial reports for the purposes of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission Act 2012 up to and including the 2028-29 financial year (Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations); and

•                 preserve the operation of the Australian Charities and Not‑for‑profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulation 2016 (2016 Regulations) in relation to the financial year of 2015-16 and each subsequent financial year up to and including the 2023-24 financial year (Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations).

The purpose of the Regulations is to ensure the Commissioner of the ACNC can continue to treat statements, reports or other documents as annual information statements or financial reports for the purposes of the ACNC Act up to and including the 2028-29 financial year. This maintains existing reporting arrangements and reduces duplicative regulatory burdens on registered entities for this period and allows existing administrative processes established by the ACNC to continue to apply.

The Regulations also ensure that the exemption operates in relation to previous financial years spanning 2015-16 up until 2023-24, allowing the Commissioner to continue to share financial reporting information for the purposes of the ACNC Act for earlier years.

Human rights implications

This Legislative Instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.

Conclusion

This Legislative Instrument is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.

 

Overview

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulations 2025 were enacted to address the need for seamless continuation of reporting processes for registered entities under the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012. These regulations were introduced to ensure that the Commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission can continue to treat statements, reports, or other documents given to other Australian government agencies by registered entities as annual information statements or financial reports for the purposes of the ACNC Act. The Regulations extend the exemption period from the 2024-25 financial year up to and including the 2028-29 financial year, thus preventing duplicative reporting obligations on over 3000 charities. The Regulations were made under the authority of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Act 2012 by the Governor General and are subject to disallowance by Parliament. They commenced and applied from the day after registration and are subject to sunsetting under section 50 of the Legislation Act 2003. An exposure draft of the Regulations was released for public consultation, and the measure has been confirmed as not impacting compliance costs.

Scope and Application

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulations 2025 apply to registered entities under the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012, which are organisations that fall under the jurisdiction of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). These entities are primarily non-profit organisations, charities, and other not-for-profit entities that are required to report annually to the Commissioner of the ACNC. The regulations provide a transitional arrangement that allows the Commissioner to treat certain statements, reports, or other documents submitted to other Australian government agencies as annual information statements or financial reports for the purposes of the ACNC Act, thereby exempting these registered entities from additional reporting obligations for financial years up to and including 2028-29. This exemption was initially established for financial years between 2015 and 2024, and the Regulations extend this period further. The geographic reach of these regulations is national, applying across all states and territories in Australia. There are no specific exclusions or exemptions stated within the Act, though the exemptions apply only to the financial years specified. The Regulations also incorporate the provisions of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulation 2016 for financial years between 2015-16 and 2023-24, ensuring continuity in the regulatory framework. The Regulations are subject to disallowance by Parliament and will sunset in accordance with the Legislation Act 2003.

Key Provisions

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulations 2025 (the "Regulations") amend and extend the scope of the existing Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulation 2016. Specifically, Section 5 of Schedule 1 extends the financial years from 2024-25 to 2028-29 during which the Commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) can treat statements, reports, or other documents provided by registered entities to other Australian government agencies as annual information statements or financial reports under the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (ACNC Act). This extension aims to prevent the imposition of duplicative financial reporting obligations on registered entities, thereby easing their administrative burden. These Regulations impose obligations on registered entities to continue to provide statements, reports, or other documents to other government agencies in a manner consistent with the requirements set forth under the ACNC Act. They also mandate the Commissioner to treat these documents as annual information statements or financial reports for the specified financial years. Additionally, the Regulations preserve the operation of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Regulation 2016 for the financial years from 2015-16 to 2023-24, ensuring that the Commissioner can continue to share financial reporting information for the ACNC Act during this period. Failure to comply with the Regulations could potentially result in the imposition of additional regulatory burdens on registered entities, as the Commissioner may no longer treat the provided documents as annual information statements or financial reports. This non-compliance could lead to increased reporting obligations, which might be seen as a breach of the existing regulatory framework. While the Regulations do not specify explicit offences or penalties for non-compliance, any breaches of the ACNC Act or related regulations could attract penalties under that Act, which may include fines and other sanctions.

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Charity Law
Instrument
Regulation
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Definitions & Interpretation
Commencement Provisions
Reporting & Disclosure Obligations
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Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation at 26 August 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au.