The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) is the national regulator of charities and is responsible for registering charities, seeking tax concessions in Australia and ongoing administration of charity registration requirements, including financial reporting.

Churches that are eligible to register as a charity must register with the ACNC and comply with the ACNC’s ongoing registration and reporting obligations to maintain their Commonwealth tax concessions including income tax exemption, fringe benefit tax concessions and GST concessions.

The majority of our Baptist Churches in NSW and ACT will be classified as a Basic Religious Charity under the ACNC which means reduced reporting obligations. Click here to find out if you are a Basic Religious Charity.

If your church meets the requirements of a basic religious charity, it does not have to:

• answer the financial information questions in the Annual Information Statement regardless of its size
• submit annual financial reports to us (even if it is a medium or large charity), or
• comply with ACNC governance standards

For further information on the ACNC refer to the ACNC section in the Church Finance Handbook and the ACNC website.

If you have any queries in relation the ACNC, please contact the Operations Team.