Ten charity law developments from the past six months

Published 18 September 2026.

March to September 2026 — what has changed, what is coming, and what charities, not-for-profits and philanthropists should do about it.

The six months to September 2026 have been busy. Two of the Productivity Commission's giving reforms moved from announcement towards law. Fundraising harmonisation reached most of the country. The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) set new regulatory priorities and rewrote its guidance on community housing. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) published its view on what counts as a benefit from a giving fund. And the Supreme Court of New South Wales had to rescue a well-known charity from its own restructure.

These are the ten developments we think matter most.

1. Giving funds face a 6% minimum distribution rate

Status: announced, not yet in force.

On 26 February 2026, the Government announced the most significant change to ancillary funds in over a decade. Public and private ancillary funds will be renamed public giving funds and private giving funds. The minimum annual distribution rate will be set at 6% of net assets for both — up from 4% for public funds and 5% for private funds. Funds will be able to smooth distributions across three years, so a large grant in one year can be offset against the two that follow. Existing funds get a two-year transition before the new rate bites. See the Assistant Minister's media release.

The change takes effect from the first financial year after the Private Ancillary Fund Guidelines 2019 and the Public Ancillary Fund Guidelines 2022 are amended. At the time of writing those amending guidelines had not been registered. That timing creates some uncertainty: until the guidelines are made, no fund knows which financial year it must first meet 6%.

What to do now: Model the 6% rate against your fund's asset allocation and expected return. Test whether illiquid or concentrated holdings can support it. If your fund makes multi-year grant commitments, the smoothing rule may help, but it will require notification to the Commissioner of Taxation, so build that into your grant approval process.

2. The $2 threshold for gift deductions has been removed

Status: enacted.

Schedule 1 to the Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering an Efficient and Trusted Tax System) Bill 2026 removes the $2 minimum for a deduction under Division 30 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth). The Bill was introduced on 25 March 2026 and received Royal Assent on 30 June 2026. The change applies to gifts made on or after 1 July 2024, so it is retrospective. The Bills Digest sets out the detail, and the ATO's gifts and donations guidance has been updated.

This is a small change with real operational consequences. Round-up donations at the point of sale, micro-donations in apps, and coin collections are now deductible, and a donor can aggregate low-value gifts across an income year. It does not apply to political donations.

What to do now: Check that your receipting and donor database can issue receipts for amounts under $2 and can aggregate them. If you run a round-up or checkout-donation arrangement, revisit who the gift is made to, and by whom, because deductibility still depends on the donor making a gift to the deductible gift recipient (the DGR), not to the retailer.

3. TD 2026/3 tells you what a ‘benefit’ from a giving fund is

Status: final ATO view, issued 10 June 2026.

TD 2026/3 addresses when an ancillary fund provides a benefit under the ancillary fund guidelines. The ATO takes benefit to mean an advantage, a profit or a gain, and not to be limited to transfers of money or property: a discounted lease, a below-market loan or a loan guarantee can each be a benefit (paragraphs 10 to 14).

Two contexts are treated differently. For the distribution rule, a benefit counts only where the fund has caused the DGR to have it, and a non-binding pledge is not a distribution until it is paid (paragraphs 23 to 29). For the integrity rule, the language is wider and catches any benefit conferred directly or indirectly on a trustee, donor, founder, relative or associate, including relief from an obligation and benefits conferred by omission (paragraphs 33 to 52).

What to do now: Every giving fund with a related-party arrangement should review it against this determination — premises shared with a founder's business, interest-free loans, guarantees, naming rights and in-kind services all deserve a look. Where a fund relies on a pledge to meet its distribution obligation, check whether the pledge has actually been paid.

4. The community charity DGR category keeps expanding

Status: in force and growing.

In February 2026 the Government added 34 organisations to the ministerial declaration for community charities — the largest expansion since the category was created in 2024. The 2026–27 Federal Budget added two more and, according to sector commentary on the Budget papers, removed the ministerial declaration requirement from the endorsement pathway.

The attraction of the community charity categories is breadth. A community foundation endorsed in this category can fund across education, health, social inclusion, the environment and disaster recovery without holding a separate endorsement for each purpose.

What to do now: If you have been told your purposes are too broad for an existing DGR category, this pathway may be worth a second look once the details about how the category will be administered are known.

5. Fundraising harmonisation arrives in New South Wales, Western Australia and Tasmania

Status: in force in New South Wales; progressing elsewhere.

From 1 April 2026, a charity registered with the ACNC is automatically taken to hold a deemed authority to fundraise in New South Wales once it notifies the ACNC of its intention to fundraise there. The authority has no fixed term. Deemed authority holders no longer lodge New South Wales financial statements; they report once a year to the ACNC. The changes were made by the Customer Service Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (NSW) and the Customer Service Legislation Amendment Regulation 2026 (NSW). See NSW Fair Trading.

Western Australia passed the Charitable Collections Amendment Act 2025 (WA) in November 2025, moving to deemed licensing for ACNC-registered charities, perpetual rather than three-year licences, and a single reporting line through the ACNC (assented to on 4 December 2025). In Tasmania, the Charities and Associations Law (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2025 (Tas) passed the House of Assembly on 26 March 2026. Victoria has had deemed registration since 3 July 2024 under the Fundraising Amendment (National Fundraising Principles) Regulations 2024 (Vic).

What to do now: If your charity is ACNC registered, then continue to monitor the gradual harmonisation process and also ensure that your fundraising activities comply with the 16 National Fundraising Principles, which now apply in most jurisdictions. Harmonisation improves the process for obtaining a licence/authority etc, but does not remove the fundraising conduct rules.:

6. The ACNC's 2026–27 focus: governing documents and partners

Status: current regulatory priority, announced August 2026.

At the Governing for Good Forum the ACNC named two regulatory focus areas for 2026–27: governing documents, and working effectively with partners. The first reflects how many charities operate under a constitution or trust deed that no longer matches what they do. The second reflects the reality that outsourced delivery does not outsource responsibility.

The ACNC has also published new guidance on governance in complex charity structures, covering shared directorships, board meeting practice, conflicts of interest and related party transactions.

What to do now: Read your constitution or trust deed against your current activities, funding sources and membership. Objects clauses drafted for a different era are a common problem we see. For collaborations and ‘partnerships’, the ACNC expects documented due diligence before you engage a third party, a written agreement that allocates responsibility, and active monitoring afterwards.

7. A rewritten interpretation statement on community housing

Status: in force, issued 14 August 2026.

The ACNC released an updated Commissioner's Interpretation Statement on community housing, replacing the statement issued on 5 November 2021. The new version addresses contemporary delivery models: social housing, affordable housing, key worker housing, mixed-tenure developments and multi-party special purpose vehicles. See the statement and the ACNC's announcement.

This matters because the hard cases in housing charity registration have always been at the margins: housing let to people who are not in poverty, mixed developments in which market-rate sales cross-subsidise affordable stock, and joint ventures with for-profit developers. Those are the arrangements the updated statement seeks to address.

What to do now: Any registered charity delivering housing through a joint venture or special purpose vehicle should test its structure against the updated statement. Charitable purpose and public benefit are assessed on the entity’s purposes, not on the label attached to the project.

8. WIRES: the Supreme Court cleans up a restructure

Status: decided.

In Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service Ltd v Emmett [2026] NSWSC 145, Kunc J dealt with the consequences of a wildlife rescue charity converting from an incorporated association to a company limited by guarantee under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Corporations Act). The conversion was procedurally flawed.

The Court used its power under section 1322(4) of the Corporations Act to validate the position: it declared the registration of the company valid despite the irregularities, confirmed which constitution was operative, directed rectification of the ASIC record, extended time to regularise the constitution, and imposed transparency conditions including audited accounts, notification to the ACNC and member engagement. No costs orders were made. The judgment is on AustLII.

What to do now: A key lesson is that section 1322 provides curative relief, but it is a public, expensive and slow process. If you are converting an incorporated association to a company, or restructuring a charity in any other way, it is important to ensure that the relevant member resolutions, transfer of registration and adoption of the constitution are done correctly.

9. The 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts was subject to consultation

Status: consultation closed, measure not yet legislated.

The 2026–27 Federal Budget announced a 30% minimum tax on certain discretionary trust distributions, to apply from 1 July 2028. Treasury consulted between 7 and 31 July 2026 on rollover relief, the treatment of excess franking credits and collection mechanisms. Restructuring relief is proposed for a three-year window from 1 July 2027. See the consultation (now closed).

The measure is aimed at discretionary trusts rather than charitable trusts, and the consultation deals expressly with distributions to income tax exempt beneficiaries, which includes charities. The treatment of any particular structure should be confirmed once draft legislation is released; this is not yet settled.

What to do now: Many families give through a discretionary trust rather than a giving fund. If a family group is likely to restructure before 1 July 2028, the question of where philanthropic capital sits — trust, giving fund, or company — is worth raising now, while the rollover window is still being designed.

10. Payday super and the self-review return: two obligations that catch charities out

Status: in force from 1 July 2026.

Employers must now ensure superannuation contributions are paid (and received) within seven business days of payday, replacing the quarterly cycle. The obligation applies to charities and not-for-profits in the same way as to any other employer. See the ATO's guidance.

Separately, not-for-profits with an active ABN that self-assess as income tax exempt must lodge the NFP self-review return between 1 July and 31 October each year. Late lodgment penalties apply, and an earlier year's return must be lodged before the current year's.

What to do now: For payday super, check your payroll system and your cash flow — a small charity paying fortnightly now has 26 superannuation payment events a year. For the self-review return, confirm which entities in your group are lodging. Entities that should be registered charities rather than self-assessing are the ones most exposed.

Also on our radar

The Charity Resilience and Productivity Project. Announced on 14 August 2026, the ACNC and the ATO will run a joint capability program from October 2026 to June 2028 covering governance, cyber hygiene, fraud awareness and AI safety, with face-to-face sessions in regional communities. The Government also committed $2.7 million to improve data sharing between the Charities Register and the Companies Register. See the Assistant Minister's address.

Safeguarding guidance. The ACNC updated its Governance Toolkit on safeguarding vulnerable people in July 2026, setting out a seven-step framework with an assessment tool, policy template and incident response plan.

The sector in numbers. The 12th edition of the Australian Charities Report, released in June 2026, records $239 billion in sector revenue, 1.6 million employees and a record 3.9 million volunteers.

Victorian associations. The Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment Bill 2026 (Vic) was introduced on 11 August 2026, passed the Legislative Assembly on 27 August 2026 and is before the Legislative Council. It would require the Registrar of Incorporated Associations to refuse incorporation, or direct a wind-up, where a body has an industrial relations purpose. See the Bill.

Naming investigations. The amended secrecy provisions in the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (Cth) commenced in December 2025 and allow the Commissioner to confirm that a charity is under investigation. The ACNC first used the power in February 2026. It has changed the calculus for any charity facing a regulatory inquiry alongside media interest.

Contact

If you would like to talk about how any of these changes affect your organisation, please contact us.