Incorporated societies and registered charities — New Zealand

Your annual filing,
prepared for you.

Everything is due within 6 months of your balance date. For a 31 March balance date — the statutory default, and the most common — that's 30 September.

Under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 every non-charitable society owes four things each year: hold the AGM, complete financial statements signed by two committee members, register those statements, and register an annual return. The committees carrying that are volunteers, and the annual return didn't exist before. We prepare the statements and the answers; your committee reads them, signs them and files.

Registered with Charities Services? Then none of that goes to the Registrar. Your annual return goes to Charities Services with a Performance Report attached, and we prepare that too.

Led by a Chartered Accountant — a CA ANZ member with 20+ years of experience across public practice, business operations, audit, and government sectors.

Society pack →Registered charity? Charity pack →See what it costs

Packs: incorporated society, or registered charity

30 Sept

The deadline for a 31 March balance date

NZ$249

Launch pricing, small-society pack

Read this first

One question decides which pack you need.

Not registered with Charities Services

You file with the Registrar of Incorporated Societies: the AGM, the financial statements and the annual return. The rest of this page is for you.

Society pack →

Registered with Charities Services

You file nothing with the Registrar. Your annual return goes to Charities Services, with your financial statements attached.

Charity pack →

The Registrar's own words: “If your society is also registered with Charities Services, you do not file annual financial statements or complete an annual return with us but you do file an annual return with Charities Services.” Sections 108 and 109(3) of the Act say the same thing.

What you owe

Four duties, all keyed to your balance date.

Hold the AGMs.84(1)

Not later than 6 months after the balance date — and not later than 15 months after the previous AGM.

Complete the financial statementss.102(1)

Within 6 months after the balance date, dated and signed by 2 members of the committee.

Within 6 months after the balance date, given to the Registrar for registration.

Within 6 months after the balance date, submitted through the Registrar's website.

“Every society must ensure that, within 6 months after the balance date of the society, financial statements are— (a) completed in relation to the society and that balance date; and (b) dated and signed by or on behalf of the society by 2 members of the committee.”

Incorporated Societies Act 2022, s.102(1)

The question behind the question

Which set of rules does your society actually sit under?

“What does my club have to file?” is a simple question with a two-test statutory answer, and getting it wrong is the most expensive mistake available here. This is the cascade, resolved:

Registered with Charities Services?

→ The charity pack

You file with Charities Services, not the Registrar. Different regime, different tiers — see the charity pack below.

Operating payments $140,000 or more in each of the 2 preceding periods?

→ Specified not-for-profit entity

Generally accepted accounting practice, no non-GAAP option — Tier 1, 2 or 3 by total expenses. We determine the tier and route the engagement.

Operating payments AND current assets both under $50,000 in each of the 2 preceding periods, and not a donee organisation?

→ Small society

The section 104 minimum requirements apply — and this is exactly what the pack prepares.

Neither of the above — the $50,000 to $140,000 middle band

→ Tier 4 (NFP) at least

Neither small nor a specified not-for-profit entity, so the section 104 minimum isn't open to you. We tell you which standard applies and what that means before you buy anything.

Note what the small-society test doesn't say: it isn't about this year's numbers, and it isn't about total assets. It looks back two years, and only at current assets. A small society may always elect up to a fuller standard — nothing forces it down to the minimum.

What you get

Three documents, built from your own figures.

Financial statements

Built to the section 104 minimum requirements, using the Registrar's own category names in the Registrar's own order, with current-year and prior-year columns and the two-signature block. The checks we ran on your figures are shown — cash reconciliation, and the operating-payments and current-assets tests — so your treasurer can see them and answer them.

Annual return preparation

Every regulation 18 answer, in order, ready to type into the register — plus the register checks that have to happen before an officer can honestly make the two certifications the return asks for.

Your calendar

This year's four deadlines, the 15-month AGM rule, whether an audit is triggered, where the society sits against the thresholds for the next two years, and the standing 20-working-day obligations that catch committees between returns.

The Registrar's own categories, in the Registrar's own order

The Registrar publishes a small-society financial statement template, and it is the closest thing to an official format. Your statements reproduce its structure and category names exactly — donations, koha, bequests and other fundraising; grants received; membership fees and subscriptions; and the rest, in its order, with current-year and last-year columns.

That matters for a practical reason: a treasurer who later opens the Registrar's template must see the same words in the same order. Renaming categories to read better is how next year's committee ends up confused.

Where a figure genuinely isn't known, the pack says so in place rather than defaulting it to zero. Zero is a claim about your society's affairs, and it goes into a document two committee members sign.

What it costs

Two flat fees. Launch pricing.

Society Annual Pack — Standard

NZ$249

Launch pricing

For small societies on the section 104 route. Your committee signs and files.

→Financial statements to the section 104 minimum, on the Registrar's own categories

→Every regulation 18 annual return answer, prepared and in order

→The register checks that have to happen before an officer certifies

→Your calendar — four deadlines, the 15-month AGM rule, the audit test, the thresholds ahead

Start — NZ$249 →

Society Annual Pack — Premium

NZ$395

Launch pricing

The same pack, gone through with you before your committee signs.

→Everything in the pack above

→Gone through with you before it goes to your committee

→The figure checks explained — what each one found and what to do about it

→A straight answer on your reporting route, the audit test and next year's thresholds

Start — NZ$395 →

Both prices are launch pricing, paid up front, and confirmed on screen before you pay anything. No GST — we're not GST-registered. Above the small-society thresholds we determine your route and quote the engagement properly rather than sell you a pack that doesn't fit — the intake runs that test on your own figures and stops there if it fails. Registered charities: the society pack isn't for you, and the intake says so on the first question. Your pack is the charity pack. Full terms of engagement.

Registered charities

The charity pack: your annual return, prepared.

Within six months of your balance date, Charities Services wants an annual return, accompanied by the financial statements for the year, and the fee. Not the form on its own. We prepare the Performance Report and every answer the return asks for, from your own figures. You approve it and file it from your own account; we never ask for your login.

To be straight with you: Charities Services provides free templates, and says you don't need an accountant to prepare your Performance Report. They're right. The form isn't the hard part. Knowing which tier you're in is, and so is the statement of service performance, which is half the report and can't be written from a bank statement. That's what you'd be paying for.

Tier 4 — cash accounting

Annual operating payments under $140,000, no public accountability.

→Entity information

→Statement of service performance

→Statement of cash received and cash paid

→Notes — seven of them

Tier 3 — accrual accounting

Annual expenses under $5 million.

→Everything in Tier 4, plus:

→Statement of financial performance

→Statement of financial position

→Statement of cash flows and accounting policies

→Sixteen notes, including the fixed asset schedule

The carry-over almost nobody has been told about

If your operating payments went over $140,000 this year, you are probably not out of Tier 4. Charities Services lets a charity stay in a tier it no longer meets for two reporting periods. A charity at $145,000 does not have to move to accrual accounting yet.

Start the charity pack →Which tier am I? Free six-question check

Tier 4: NZ$249 Standard, or NZ$395 Premium, gone through with you. Tier 3, a full accrual set: NZ$595 Standard, or NZ$895 Premium. The order form works out your tier from your figures and shows the exact price before you pay. One-off launch pricing, delivered within one working day of payment. Full terms.

If it slips

The fees are real, and they land on volunteers.

A society that fails to comply commits an infringement offence and is liable to an infringement fee set by the Regulations, or a fine imposed by a court not exceeding $3,000.

They're not ruinous. They are entirely avoidable, and they arrive at a committee that didn't know the clock was running — which is the actual problem this product solves.

Infringement fees

Failure to register financial statements

s.102(3)

$500

Failure to call the annual general meeting

s.84(1)

$500

Failure to register the annual return

s.109(1)

$100

Failure to notify officer changes

s.52

$100

Incorporated Societies Regulations 2023, Schedule 2.

The boundaries

What we don't do.

Being straight about the limits is part of the pitch, not a disclaimer bolted to the bottom of it.

Audits and reviews

An audit is required only where the society is not a charity and its operating expenditure, with any controlled entities, reached $3 million in each of the two preceding periods. Where that bites, it's a referral to a qualified auditor — we prepare, we don't audit, and we wouldn't audit what we prepared.

XRB-tier statements

Where the society is above the small-society thresholds, we determine which standard applies and why, and route the engagement — we don't generate statements under an XRB standard. A part-built Tier 3 set would look finished and wouldn't be.

Filing, and the certifications

The society files. We don't touch its RealMe account or submit on its behalf unless separately engaged, and the two certifications in the annual return are made by a named officer of the society — never by us.

Who's actually doing the work

Expertly designed. Commercially grounded.

Led by a Chartered Accountant — a CA ANZ member with 20+ years of experience across public practice, business operations, audit, and government sectors.

Chartered Accountant Led

A CA ANZ member, qualified over twenty years, leads the work.

Government & Audit Backed

Built on experience in audit and government finance, where the file has to stand up to inspection.

Commercially Minded

Years spent running businesses, not only advising them — so the process fits around how your firm actually works.

We prepare, your committee signs. Two members of the committee date and sign the statements, and a named officer makes the two certifications in the annual return. Those are your society's to make — we never make them for you.

Every statutory claim in what we produce traces to legislation.govt.nz, the Registrar's own guidance, or the External Reporting Board. Where something genuinely can't be confirmed from a primary source, the pack says so rather than filling the gap with plausible wording.

FAQ

Questions committees actually ask.

We're a registered charity. Does this apply to us?

Not the society rules — and this is the first thing to settle. The Registrar puts it plainly: "If your society is also registered with Charities Services, you do not file annual financial statements or complete an annual return with us but you do file an annual return with Charities Services." You report under the Charities Act regime instead, on its own tiers. That is what our charity pack prepares: the Performance Report and every annual return answer. See the charity pack section above.

When is everything actually due?

All four duties key off your balance date and all four fall within 6 months of it. 31 March is the statutory default balance date and by far the most common, which puts most societies' deadline at 30 September. If there are specific circumstances that mean you need more time to file your statements and annual return, you can apply to the Registrar for a filing extension through your society's online account.

What changed under the 2022 Act?

Under the 1908 Act a society filed financial statements. Under the 2022 Act it owes four things: hold the AGM, complete financial statements signed by two committee members, register those statements, and register an annual return — a filing that did not exist before, carrying two certifications a named officer has to be able to stand behind. Every registered society is now governed by the 2022 Act; the transition finished on 5 April 2026.

Is my society a "small society"?

It is if, in each of the two preceding accounting periods, total operating payments were less than $50,000 and total current assets at balance date were less than $50,000 — and, at this balance date, it is not a donee organisation for tax purposes. Note what the test doesn't say: it isn't about this year's numbers, and it isn't about total assets. It looks back two years, and only at current assets. A small society may always elect up to a fuller standard; nothing forces it down to the minimum.

We're over $50,000 but under $140,000. What then?

That middle band is real and easy to miss. A society over $50,000 but under $140,000 in operating payments is neither a small society nor a specified not-for-profit entity, so the section 104 minimum isn't open to it — it must use at least the Tier 4 (NFP) standard. Tell us your figures and we'll tell you which route you're on before you buy anything.

Do we need an audit?

Almost certainly not. An audit is required only where the society is not a charitable entity and the total operating expenditure of the society and any entities it controls was $3 million or more in each of the two preceding accounting periods. Below that there is no statutory audit and no statutory review requirement. Your own constitution or a funder's terms may still require one — that's a contractual obligation, not a statutory one, and it's worth checking.

What does it cost to miss a deadline?

Failing to comply is an infringement offence: an infringement fee set by the Regulations, or a fine imposed by a court not exceeding $3,000. The fees are $500 for failing to register the financial statements, $500 for failing to call the AGM, and $100 for failing to register the annual return. They're not ruinous, but they're avoidable, and they land on a volunteer committee that didn't see them coming.

Who signs the statements?

Two members of your committee — the Act requires it, and the Registrar's own template carries the two-signature block. We prepare; your committee reads, checks and signs. The two certifications in the annual return are the same: a named officer confirms the society has 10 or more members and that the information on the register is correct. We prepare the answers, the officer stands behind them.

Is this an audit, or accounting advice?

Neither. This is preparation work: financial statements built from figures you provide, and annual return answers assembled from your own register. It is not an audit, review or any other assurance engagement, and it isn't tax or legal advice. Nothing in a pack is prepared under a professional designation.

Not sure? Ask us

Rather ask a question first?

If your committee knows where it stands, start your pack — it takes about five minutes and you get a price on the next screen. Use this form instead if the treasurer hasn't got two years of figures to hand yet, if the society looks bigger than the small-society thresholds, or if you just want a question answered before you spend anything. Your balance date and whether you're registered with Charities Services is enough to start us off.

The short version

Written for a volunteer treasurer.

You send the figures you already keep. We work out which rules apply, prepare the statements and the return answers, and hand back a calendar with your four dates on it. Your committee reads, signs and files.

“Compliance shouldn't paralyze your operations. Our frameworks are developed and led by a Chartered Accountant with 20+ years of experience bridging the gap between government audit requirements and real-world business operations.”

Deplexify — compliance services

Or email us

hello@deplexify.com

We read every message the day it arrives. Most responses come within a few hours.

Also from Deplexify

All compliance services →AML/CFT annual report (NZ) →Accounting (NZ & AU) →

Get the filing off your committee's list.

Everything is due within 6 months of your balance date. Tell us the date and we'll come back with your route, your four deadlines, and whether you need us at all.

Start your pack →

Not sure, or bigger than a small society? Ask us instead →

We prepare financial statements and annual return answers for your committee's review, approval and filing. This is not an audit, review or other assurance engagement, and it isn't tax or legal advice. The society files, and the certifications in the annual return are made by a named officer of the society. Deplexify is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the Registrar of Incorporated Societies.

Your annual filing,prepared for you.