Reregistering as an incorporated society

Your organisation will need to update its name. To be registered as an incorporated society your name must end with one or more of the following words — ‘Manatōpū’, ‘Incorporated’ or ‘Inc’.

You can choose to continue using your current registered name — simply add one or more of the mandatory last words to the end.

If you decide to completely change your name, please note that your society’s proposed name needs to be unique.

• It cannot be the same as the name of another incorporated society or entity (for example, another charitable trust board).
• It can only be almost identical to another society or entity name if that organisation gives its written consent. If you have written consent to use your name, provide a copy of that consent when you apply.

You will need to confirm you have the minimum number of members required to reregister as an incorporated society under the 2022 Act.

Your society must have at least 10 members and your membership can include individuals and body corporates (for example, charitable trust boards, companies, or other incorporated societies). When you are counting your membership numbers, a body corporate counts as 3 individual members.

You will need to provide a copy of the constitution your organisation has prepared. The constitution must comply with the 2022 Act. It must also have been approved by your members at a general meeting.

You will need to advise us of your society’s balance date. This date should have been decided as part of drafting your society’s constitution.

The ‘balance date’ is the last day of your financial year and it also plays an important role in determining other deadlines for your society. In particular, within 6 months of each balance date your society must:

• prepare its annual financial statements, and
• hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM), and
• present its financial statements at the AGM, and
• file an annual return with us, along with its annual financial statements.

Registered office address

You must provide your registered office address. 

If the address is different to what is currently recorded on the Charitable Trusts Register, you must also provide a date the change takes effect. This must be at least 5 working days after your reregistration application is received by the Registrar.

What a registered office address is

The registered office address is the official address for your society and will be displayed on the register. It is where your society’s records, including your register of members, are kept. It’s also an address that anyone can use to contact your society and deliver any legal documents, such as court documents.

It must be a full physical address — you cannot use a Post Office box, Private Bag or DX address as the registered office.

Address for communications – physical or postal

You must provide an address for communications.

We will use this address if we need to send letters to your society so it should be an address that is actively monitored by someone in your society. The address for communications can be either a physical address or a postal address.

Email address for communications

You must provide a current email address for communications.

This email address will not be visible on the public register, but it will be used by us as our main point of contact with your society. We will use this email address to send reminders to file your society’s annual financial statements and annual return so choose an address that is regularly checked by someone in your society and make sure it is kept up to date.

Contact phone numbers (optional)

You have the option to provide us with contact phone numbers for your society — a landline or a mobile phone number. The numbers will not be visible on the public register, they will only be used by us as another point of contact.

Details of at least one contact person

Your society must have at least one contact person and no more than 3. To be a contact person they do not need to be an officer of your society, but it should be someone who can handle enquiries from us, so it is important to keep their details up to date.

For each contact person you will need to provide their name, a physical or postal address and an email address. The contact person’s address details need to be different than the society addresses for communication provided above.

You must record the names and contact details for each of your society’s officers and advise which officers are members of your society. You will also need to certify that they have:

• consented in writing to being an officer, and
• certified that they are not disqualified from being an officer.

Most of the information you need to provide about your officers is kept private. This means it can only be seen by the Registrar or people who have authority to update your society’s information on the register.

The only details that the public will see are your officer’s names and their appointment dates.

Your society must have at least 3 people on its committee and each person on the committee is an officer of your society. Other people can also be appointed as officers even if they’re not part of the elected committee. This includes anyone who holds a position which allows them to exercise significant influence over the management or administration of the society. Learn more about committees and officers