At its Advisory Board meeting on 20 February, 2024, the ACNC admitted significant delays in processing charity registrations. As at 20 Feb, there were 620 pending registrations, of which 86 have been waiting 3 months or slightly more – above the target of processing within 15 business days of receiving all information necessary to make a decision.

A sustained 6% increase in applications was partly attributed to changes in the ATO’s not-for-profit (NFP) self-assessing income tax reporting requirements. Of the 225,300 NFPs registered with an ABN, approximately 157,100 (70%) are self-assessed income tax exempt NFPs.

If a self-assessing NFP does not fit within one of the 8 eligibility categories which enable income tax exemption (community service, sporting, cultural, educational, health, employment, scientific and resource development), and it chooses not to register (or is not eligible to register) with the ACNC, then it will be taxable.