Your charity's annual return, prepared

Within six months of your balance date, Charities Services wants an annual return — accompanied by the financial statements for the year, and the fee. Not the form on its own. We prepare the Performance Report and every answer the return asks for, from your own figures.

Tier 4: NZ$249 Standard · NZ$395 Premium, with an accountant's check. Tier 3: NZ$595 Standard · NZ$895 Premium. One-off launch pricing, paid up front, delivered within one working day of payment. Full terms.

We never invent a figure Anything you haven't given us shows as a dash and goes on a separate outstanding-items sheet — never quietly defaulted to zero. Zero is a claim about your charity's affairs, and it goes into a document you sign and file.

You should know this before you pay us anything Charities Services provides free templates, and a Tier 4 charity can complete the whole thing inside the combined online annual return with nothing separate to attach. They publish a page called "Myth Busting: you need an accountant to prepare your Performance Report." They're right. The form isn't the hard part — knowing which tier you're in is, and so is the statement of service performance, which is half the report and can't be written from a bank statement. That's what you'd be paying for.

Which tier you're in decides how big the job is

Tier 4 — cash accounting

Annual operating payments under $140,000, no public accountability.

Entity information
Statement of service performance
Statement of cash received and cash paid
Notes — seven of them

Tier 3 — accrual accounting

Annual expenses under $5 million.

Everything above, plus:
Statement of financial performance
Statement of financial position — which has to balance
Statement of cash flows
Statement of accounting policies
Sixteen notes, including the fixed asset schedule

The carry-over almost nobody has been told about If your operating payments went over $140,000 this year, you are probably not out of Tier 4. Charities Services lets a charity stay in a tier it no longer meets for two reporting periods. A charity at $145,000 does not have to move to accrual accounting yet — and a charity that moved early may be doing three times the work it needs to.

Not sure which tier you're in? Free six-question check →

1. First, one question that decides everything Is the entity registered as a charity with Charities Services? * A registered charity files with Charities Services and files nothing at all with the Registrar of Incorporated Societies. If the answer is no, you want our other pack — we'd rather find that out now than take your money. Is it also an incorporated society? If it is, the AGM and most of the Incorporated Societies Act still apply to it. Being a charity switches off three provisions and nothing else.

2. Your charity Full legal name, exactly as registered * Charities registration number (CC number) * It's the reference your fee payment has to carry, so it's worth getting right. Balance date * The day your financial year ends, as nominated to Charities Services — 31 March if none ever was. It drives every date in the pack. Your name * Email * Phone So we can ring if a figure doesn't reconcile.

3. How big is the charity?

Three different figures decide three different things, and they are not the same figure. Plain whole dollars, no commas. Rough figures off the accounts are fine at this stage.

Total operating payments — this year * Cash out of the bank on running the charity, excluding buying assets and repaying loans. This decides your tier.

Operating payments — last year Operating payments — the year before

Only needed if this year was over $140,000 — they're what the carry-over turns on.

Total expenses this year, on an accrual basis Only if you're above the Tier 4 line. Includes depreciation and anything incurred but not yet paid. Total gross income this year This decides the annual return fee you pay Charities Services, and nothing else.

Operating expenditure — last year Operating expenditure — the year before

Including any entity your charity controls. This decides whether an audit or a review is required — $550,000 in each of those two years means a review or an audit, $1.1 million means an audit. A third figure again, and measured on the two years before this one.

Our charity controls another entity Our charity has public accountability (listed, or provides financial services) Our own rules, or a funder, require an audit or review

4. Filing Do you have access to the charity's account at charities.govt.nz? Filing is online, so it's worth finding out now rather than the week it's due. Has the return already been missed? It changes what's worth doing first, and it's not a problem we haven't seen. Charities Services takes an extension request before the date but not after it.

5. Which one do you want? Choose * Your tier comes from the figures above, and the price follows it; you see the exact amount before you pay. Premium is the same pack, read by an accountant before your charity approves it, with the tier determination and any assurance trigger talked through. It is a second pair of eyes and produces no opinion and no assurance report. Anything else we should know?

6. Terms

The short version — the full terms are worth the three minutes:

NZ$249, or NZ$395 with a check, one-off launch pricing, paid up front, per charity per financial year.
Delivered within one working day of your payment clearing — or of your answering anything we come back to you on.
You approve it and you file it from your own account. We never ask for your login and we don't file on your behalf.
The annual return fee is separate and you pay it to Charities Services — nil under $10,000 of gross income, otherwise $51.11 online.
If this turns out to be the wrong product, we refund you in full — not a registered charity, or in a tier we don't build — at whatever stage we find out.

I've read the terms of engagement and I accept them * Start work as soon as my payment clears, before the 30-day cancellation period ends