Legislation has been introduced in Australia to establish the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) which will commence operations on October 1, 2012.  It will be interesting to see how the ACNC does.

Here is a link to various resources on the new Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission including some interesting explanatory memoranda:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r4871

Here is a copy of a press release from the Australian government:

 

“On 23 August 2012, the Assistant Treasurer announced in a press release, that the following bills were introduced into the House of Representatives:

Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) Bill 2012

This Bill establishes the ACNC as the Commonwealth level regulator for the not-for-profit (NFP) sector. It is proposed the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) will commence operations on 1 October 2012. Initially, only tax endorsed charities will be regulated by the ACNC. However the Bill establishes a regulatory framework that can be extended to all NFP entities in the future. The Bill incorporates changes made in accordance with the recommendations in the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics report into the draft ACNC legislation.

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

This Bill makes consequential amendments to other Commonwealth laws necessary to give effect to the ACNC. The transitional provisions are to provide a smooth transition to the new framework. This includes providing for the automatic registration of charities that are endorsed by the ATO unless the entity opts out within six months, and grandfathering existing substituted accounting periods.

Tax Laws Amendment (Special Conditions for Not-for-profit Concessions) Bill 2012

This Bill:

re-states the ‘in Australia’ special conditions for income tax exempt entities
codifies the ‘in Australia’ special conditions for deductible gift recipients
standardises the term ‘not-for-profit’, replacing the defined and undefined uses of ‘non-profit’ throughout the tax laws.

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