Proposals for ‘initial’ fees for the incorporated societies regime
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44. We seek your feedback on whether you support our proposal to roll over registration and restoration fees from the 1908 Act into the 2022 Act. These fees will be in place while a review of all fees and levies for registers administered by the Companies Office takes place.
System-wide funding review
45. The Companies (Levies) Amendment Act 2022 (the Levies Act) amended the Companies Act 1993 to modernise and consolidate how the Companies Office funds its registry functions.
46. The Levies Act was the first step in a new fees and levies regime and allows the charging of levies to fund corporate registry activities. With this in place, a system-wide funding review of what fees and, potentially, levies should be payable by all registered entities has commenced and proposals will be consulted on in due course. This review will not be completed, with the new fees and levies implemented, until 2024.
Proposed initial fees
47. Under the 1908 Act (and as set out in Schedule 1[1] of the Incorporated Societies Regulations 1979), there are currently two main fees payable to the Registrar:[2]
- Application for incorporation of a society: $88.89 (GST exclusive)
- Revocation of a declaration of dissolution of a society (effectively ‘restoration’): $177.78 (GST exclusive).
48. However, the fees made under the 1908 Act (listed above) will not automatically roll over to the 2022 Act. Without making new regulations to cover the period until the full review is complete, the Registrar will not be able to charge for incorporation and restoration.
49. We are therefore proposing (and seek your views on) rolling over the current fees until the system-wide funding review is complete. That is, the following initial fees will be charged:
- Application for incorporation of a society: $88.89 (GST exclusive)
- Restoration of a society to the register: $177.78 (GST exclusive)
Question 16: Do you agree with our proposal to roll over the current fees under the 1908 Act to the 2022 Act to cover the period until the system-wide funding review is complete? If not, why not?
Footnotes
[1] The Incorporated Societies Regulations 1979 reflects a GST inclusive fee, when GST was 12.5 percent. The current GST payable fee has been adjusted to 15 percent, but this is not reflected in those regulations.
[2] There is also a fee ‘for a certification copy of or extract from any document’ in the Incorporated Societies Regulations 1979, but we do not propose to continue this under the 2022 Act.
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