U3A Ōpāwaho: Important Notice of Amendment to Rules previously emailed to members.
The Inland Revenue Dept (IRD) has advised us that we need to amend Three (3) of our Rules in order to comply with required regulations in order to obtain a tax exemption. We are not an incorporated organisation or a registered charity, however even as an unincorporated group, we need to submit the application. To do this we need to have a Special General Meeting (SGM) and to notify members in advance that this is going to happen.
Below are the proposed alterations to the Rules. To simplify it, the current Rule is in plain text and the proposed change as required by IRD is in italics. We will explain it again at our monthly meeting next Tuesday and we will have the SGM immediately following the Speaker at our Tuesday 9 December meeting at approximately 11.30am. Voting will be by a show of hands. Apologies as usual will be accepted at the meeting.
Why do we need a tax exemption?
According to the IRD, we need to amend Clauses 5, 9 and 10 which are set out below in their current form and in their required form.
Clause 5 (Current)
ALTERATION TO THE RULES
i. The rules may be altered or amended with the assent of no less than two thirds of the financial members of U3A Ōpāwaho (or their proxies) voting at a General Meeting.
Twenty-one (21) clear days’ notice needs to be given to members stating the intention to put forward a resolution to alter a rule.
Clause 5 (Required Amendment to be added to the rule above)
No addition to, deletion from or alteration of the organisation’s rules shall be made which would allow personal financial gain to any individuals. The provisions and effect of this clause shall not be removed from this document and shall be included and implied into any document replacing this document.
Clause 9 (Current)
FINANCE
i. All the income and property of U3A Ōpāwaho will be applied solely towards the objectives of U3A Ōpāwaho and none of it will be applied, paid or transferred in any way to its Committee members unless by way of repayment of out of pocket expenses to members in the course of their work for the overall group.
ii. The Committee will have the authority to collect and accept donations.
iii. The annual subscription will be determined by the committee and approved at the AGM.
iv. All paper costs, charges and expenses incidental to the management of U3A Ōpāwaho may be defrayed from the general budget.
v. The Treasurer will keep accounts of all the monies received, banked and expended on behalf of the organisation and will properly publish a set of accounts at the AGM.
vi. All monetary transactions will be made through properly authorised accounts in
accordance with the directions of the Committee.
vii. Any two of three registered bank signatories comprising the Treasurer, Chair and Vice Chair shall be authorised to approve payments.
Clause 9 (Required paragraph to be added after vii above)
‘As a not-for-profit organisation, the officers and members may not receive any distributions of profit or income from it. This does not prevent officers and members:
• Receiving reimbursement of actual or reasonable expenses incurred, or
• Entering into any transactions with the organization for goods or services supplied to or from them, which are at arms’ length, relative to what would occur between unrelated parties.
Provided no officer or member is allowed to influence any such decision made by the organisation in respect of payments or transactions between it and them, their direct family or any associated entity.
Clause 10 (Current)
DISSOLUTION
i. U3A Ōpāwaho may at any time be dissolved by a resolution which may be carried by a simple majority of a Special General Meeting convened for the purpose.
ii. On the winding up or dissolution of the Group, the surplus funds or assets of U3A Ōpāwaho shall be transferred as directed by a special general meeting of U3A Ōpāwaho provided that such surplus funds or assets shall not be transferred to the members of U3A Ōpāwaho but shall be transferred to a charitable body for charitable purposes within New Zealand.
Clause 10 (The following is the required amendment to the current winding up clause ii.)
ii. On the winding up or dissolution of the Group, the surplus funds or assets of U3A Ōpāwaho shall be as directed by a special general meeting of U3A Ōpāwaho provided that such surplus funds or assets shall not be transferred to the members of U3A Ōpāwaho but shall be given or transferred to another not-for-profit organisation or a registered charity within New Zealand.
