Click here for information on obtaining and using the
Free Adobe Acrobat "PDF" Reader.Rotary District 9750 - Incorporated Associations Guide for Rotary Clubs
All Rotary Clubs in
District 9750 are registered as Incorporated Associations
with the NSW Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Now a part of the Dept of Commerce, OFT used to be the Department of Fair Trading (DFT).
Their web site
address is:
The information
provided here as a guide was believed to be correct at the time
of writing (all fees quoted are as at the last known review dated
July 2008, however these are indexed regularly, so please check
the latest information on the OFT site or contact them at the
registry):
Registry of Co-operatives and Associations
NSW Office of Fair Trading
PO Box 22, BATHURST NSW 2795
or via: DX 3123 Bathurst NSW
or at 154 Russell Street, BATHURST.
Enquiries by Phone: (02) 6333 1400 or 1800 502 042 (toll free).
All forms and the fee schedule are available for download on the web site (see the links at the bottom of this page), or they will post them to you if you phone, or you can pick up from any Fair Trading Centre (eg Sydney, Hurstville, Parramatta, Wollongong etc), ring or check the phone book, or the OFT web site for current centre location details.
The Incorporated
Association Number will be of the form:
Ynnnnn-nn
if issued up to 1999 or INCnnnnnnn if issued
from Nov 1999 on.
The numbering sequence continued, just the format changed.
Note that Y numbers have the hyphen and INC numbers do not (so the number of characters is the same).
Incorporation affords protection
to the club members via an incorporated entity -
BUT
what are the requirements resulting from this ???
Basically there are two main things need to be watched:
1. You must have a contact person
for your club registered with OFT;
known as the "Public
Officer".
One was nominated at the time of
incorporation. This person can remain the same for many years if
appropriate, they do not have to be on the Board. If the person
or their address has to be changed, this can be done for NO fee
using;
Form
9 - "Notice of
Vacancy/Appointment/Change of Address
of Public Officer".
2. You must send in an Annual Return;
This should be submitted within 1 month of
your AGM, and the AGM should be no more than 6 months after the
end of your financial year. A fee applies, depending on the time
of lodging your return. At
time of writing, this was $45 within
one month of the AGM, $66 between one and two months, and $72 if
more than two months after the AGM - but these are indexed
regularly so please check if these are still appropriate first,
and use;
Form
12 - "Annual Statement".
You will need to submit the
following with this form:
* A copy of your Balance Sheet (Assets
& Liabilities) as presented to the AGM.
* A copy of your Profit and Loss Statement
(Income & Expenditure) as presented to the AGM.
As a non profit organisation this is all the financial
information required, which is much less than for a business
organisation.
The form must be signed by two committee
members (usually President and Secretary or Treasurer).
OFT no longer requires a copy of the Certificate of Currency for the Public Liability Insurance Policy.
The AGM could be your Club Changeover, however you would be struggling to have your financial statements available in time to lodge the return (especially if externally audited). The Standard RI Club Bylaws and Constitution species that the AGM should be held by the end of December, and to use this as the election night. All the financial year information should be available by then and it falls just within the 6 month OFT requirement, or you could devote part or all of any club meeting providing the required notice is given (check your Bylaws for this).
Of several other less common forms and functions (some with an
approximate fee shown at time of writing, but please
check the latest actual amount, some with no fee), the most
relevant include:
* Form 6 -
Notice of alteration of objects or rules of incorporated
association (~$39).
* Form 11 - Application for
extension of time to hold AGM or to to lodge Annual Statement (~$24).
* Form 15 - Application for amalgamation of incorporated
associations (~$105), also needs Form 16.
* Form 16 - Notice of Special Resolution approving Amalgamation
of Incorporated Associations (Nil).
(NB:
The RI office at Parramatta will send each club details of
changes to the Standard Rotary Club Constitution and By-Laws,
if necessary, after a RI Council on Legislation, with advice
on what your club has to do to adopt them.
If your club passes its own special By-Laws, these also have to
be submitted to OFT. Such changes require an
extract from the minutes of the AGM or Special General Meeting of
your club, detailing the motion passed to adopt the changes.)
See the OFT web site or the Schedule from the Office for the full list and current fees.
Forms can be lodged in person at any Fair Trading Centre, by post or by DX.
Useful pages on the OFT site: - www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au
OFT Associations Page - (The main access page to guides and information)
Forms Page - (For access to the Incorporated Association forms)
Fees Page - (For fees associated with the Incorporated Association forms, relevant fees are also on each form, but are indexed regularly, so check here)
Registry of Co-operatives and Associations - (Full contact information on OFT site)
Note: OFT have upgraded and revised their site, but may do more, so if you find that the OFT site does not match the descriptions above, please let the webmaster know and we will revise this page to suit.
Click here for information on obtaining and using the
Free Adobe Acrobat "PDF" Reader.
Link back
to our: Club Registration
and Authorities Page
Page
Updated::
2 Dec 2008
E-mail comments,
updates or suggestions to the
.
