What Are the Requirements for Re-registration of an Incorporated Society?

What are the immediate issues our Incorporated Society needs to attend to with regard to re-registration of my Incorporated Society?

Approach to new regulations require diligence and planning. Under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022, Incorporated Societies are required to consider a number of areas when re-registering under the new Incorporated Societies Act 2022, this article will address six (6) of them:

• The Scale of Change.
• What will Re-registration Involve?
• Transitional Period.
• Registering Members.
• Application for Re-registration.

The Scale of Change

From 5 October 2023 until 5 April 2026, all twenty-four thousand (24,000) or so Incorporated Societies in Aotearoa New Zealand must re-register under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 (the “Incorporated Societies Act 2022”).

What Re-registration Involves

The Incorporated Societies Register and the Companies Office wants to make the re-registration process as simple as possible with no fees. There will be an online form to complete with a few key pieces of information for your society:

• New Zealand Business Number and registration number;
• the physical address of your proposed registered office;
• your balance date;
• who your contact person is;
• the names of the proposed officers and for each officer:
  • their physical address (note this won’t be publicly available);
  • their written consent to being an officer; and
  • a certificate confirming they are not disqualified from holding office as an officer – Companies Office have made a template for this available here;
• confirmation your society has at least ten (10) members; and
• confirmation that an officer considers the proposed constitution complies with the Act.
• confirmation as to set regulatory compliance.

Legislation cited is linked to the current consolidated text on the New Zealand Parliamentary Counsel Office website at legislation.govt.nz. Statutory references are to the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 and the Incorporated Societies Regulations 2023 as in force at the date of this article. This article is general information about the law and is not legal advice; for advice on a particular society, contact Working for Workers.