Re-Registration: The Best Time Was Earlier. The Next Best Time Is Now
If you are an Incorporated Society and have not begun re-registration or you can still take action now and land it well, before the deadline or before the year’s pressures really bite. “Better late than never” is not an excuse to scramble. It is a permission slip to begin,especially when something has been sitting in the too-hard, too-busy basket for a while.
If your society has not started re-registering yet, you are not alone. Many groups are still finding time to update their constitution, line up member decisions, and work out who is doing what. The key is to shift from “we should” to a simple plan with dates.
The April deadline: a very real nudge
If you want to remain an incorporated society, you must re-register under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 before 5 April 2026 (Easter Sunday). If you do not, you will not be able to continue operating as an incorporated society.
The companies office has warned of the impact of not reregistering and therefore losing your legal identity:
• lose access to all bank accounts
• need to re-apply for an IRD number and tax free status
• property and assets will be distributed as directed by the Registrar
• lose individual liability protection
For more details see HERE
If you have decided not to re-register and let nature take its course, you need to know that it will be extremely difficult for you to do anything after April 5, the Companies Office is advising people to deregister before this date. A bit of work now is going to save you a lot of time down the road.
The Companies Office sets out three core steps:
1. Prepare a new constitution (and review the society’s operational processes)
2. Hold a general meeting to approve the constitution and the decision to re-register
3. Apply online for reregistration and upload the constitution
If April feels uncomfortably close, you do not need a perfect plan. You need a workable one.
A “better late than never” re-registration mini-plan
Here is a practical way to turn this into four manageable moves:
This week
1. Pick a General Meeting date
Choose the meeting where members will vote for the new constitution. Work backwards from that date.
Check your constitution to make sure you are following protocols.
Inform your members that you are calling a Special General Meeting and why
2. Nominate a coordinator
Not the person who does all the work. The person who holds the timeline, keeps the documents moving, and makes sure decisions get made.
3. Register for an online workshop if you need more information or support
See below
Within the next fortnight
4. Hold a constitution review session
A focused working session with your draft constitution and a checklist of what needs updating. You can polish later. The goal is a version that is ready to put to members.
Within the next 6 Weeks
5. Hold a Special General Meeting for members to agree to reregistration and approve changes to
the constitution
6. Re-reregister your society and upload your constitution
Watch this video HERE to see how
Or read this guide HERE
Better late than never works best when it becomes “started is better than stalled”.
Free workshops and webinars to help you out
LEAD online workshop on February 26th @ 6pm to 7.30pm. Bring along your constitution.REGISTER HERE
ParryField Lawyers March 13, noon to 1pm REGISTER HERE
If you are a fully volunteer operated society you can register for a free one-on-one online session with a LEAD consultant. Spaces are limited. REGISTER HERE