Don’t rely on someone telling you your organisation has been reregistered – check your Incorporated Societies status now
Click here: https://is-register.
companiesoffice.govt.nz/# Enter your society name
Click your name to ‘view details’
Look at ‘Incorporated Societies Act’
If it says 1908 you are not reregistered
- If it has a Date of Reregistration and Incorporated Societies Act 2022, you are reregistered
Are you an Incorporated Society also registered with Charities Services?
Your updated rules must first be filed with the Companies Office Incorporated Societies Register.
Once reregistered, approved Rules to be filed with Charities Services.
IMPORTANT: If you have filed your updated rules directly with Charities Services without filing with the Companies Office your organisation will cease to exist as a legal entity from 6 April 2026.
Are you changing to a Charitable Trust?
You may have set up a Charitable Trust and think that reregistering doesn’t apply to you.
Ask yourself:
- Do you have funding granted to you as an Incorporated Society?
- Has the funding been fully spent and reporting been completed?
If not, we recommend that you reregister your Incorporated Society.
What happens if you do nothing?
- If your society does not reregister, appoint a liquidator, or apply to be dissolved before 5 April 2026, it will be removed from the register and from 6 April 2026, your society will cease to legally exist.
You will no longer be able to make decisions on behalf of your society, including what happens to any assets it owns
Contracts may become void including funding agreements, leases and insurance policies
There will also be consequences for your tax status, which means you may:
lose access to your bank accounts
need to re-apply for an IRD number
have your property and assets distributed as directed by the Registrar
lose your separate legal identity
Members could be held personally liable for the society’s debts, financial obligations, or leases
Your society will not be able to sign any new contracts, including funding agreements, in its name.
The name your society used will no longer have any protection – another group could incorporate using the same name.
Read more here about the consequences of not reregistering.
There is still time to register before the April 5 deadline but you MUST act now!
Contact SociaLink’s Organisational Advisor if you need any assistance.
No longer want to be an Incorporated Society?
IMPORTANT: If you don’t want to keep going as an Incorporated Society (Insoc) and you are registered under the 1908 Act, you still have to do something – it must be wound up and removed from the register.
If you are registered under the 1908 Act you can apply to the Registrar to have your society dissolved and removed from the register.
To dissolve your society:
Apply to remove your society from the register – see here
Before submitting your application, your society must deal with any financial matters as specified in its rules, and the requirements of the Incorporated Societies Act 1908
You will also need to hold a general meeting and pass a resolution to dissolve the society
You can apply to have your society dissolved by confirming that it:
is no longer carrying on its operations
has no assets – all surplus assets have been disposed of as required by your society’s rules and the Incorporated Societies Act 1908
has no liabilities (debts) including contingent liabilities
is not a party to any legal proceedings or disputes
has passed a resolution at a general meeting to apply to be dissolved.
