Charities that have not lodged a financial statement for the past two years are on notice that they will have their status revoked if they fail to respond by March 30. More than 1400 groups have been given the warning by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. The commission has released a list of “double defaulters” who have not submitted an annual statement for 2013 and 2014. Assistant commissioner David Locke said not all of the 1423 charities listed would still be operating.

“We suspect that some of them may have wound up but we believe some of them may still be active and they should have filed,” he said. “We were established to promote public trust and confidence in charities. It is a legal obligation on these charities to complete an annual information statement.” Mr Locke said some groups may simply be disorganised or unaware of their obligations, despite ongoing publicity by the commission.

“At its worst, it could be that they don’t want to publish anything because they’ve got something to hide,” he said. “The Government gives very generous tax concessions to charities but part of the deal is you’ve got to be open and transparent about what you’re doing. This is serious now. This is the deadline.

“We’re hoping that any charity that is still active contacts us and sorts this out.” In SA, the charities listed include Little Livers, the Roxby Downs SES Unit, the SA CFS Training and Research Foundation and Henley and Grange Community Centre, which is operated by Charles Sturt Council. A spokeswoman for the Australian Wombat Rehabilitation Centre, at Callington, said she was aware her charity was on the list but it had since lodged its forms.

“We had some problems but we got it fixed up last week,” she said. The Tatiara Royal Flying Doctor Service Support Group is among the 188 on the SA list but an RFDS spokeswoman said that the listing was “an anomaly”. “It doesn’t mean the support group will cease to exist,” central operations media and communications manager Kate Hannon said.

She said all 23 support groups were registered under the one Australian Business Number and all filed their statements to the RFDS, which was not on the double-defaulters list. The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission received a register of charities when the commission began in December 2012.

Registration was based on information provided by the Australian Taxation Office. To check a charity’s details, go to acnc.gov.au

This article first appeared the Advertiser