The Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations has announced the coming into force of the Voluntary Organisations (Annual Returns and Annual Accounts) Regulations, 2012. The legal instrument primarily seeks to introduce a facilitated process detailing the preparation and submission of annual accounts and annual returns that enrolled Voluntary Organisations will be expected to go through. The different Schedules contained in the regulations divide Voluntary Organisations into different Categories on the basis of the threshold of annual revenue reached by the said organisations presenting a total of 3 Categories:
- Category 1: enrolled voluntary organisations whose annual revenue does not exceed, or is equal to, €20,000;
- Category 2: enrolled voluntary organisations whose annual revenue exceeds €20,000 but does not exceed, or is equal to, €200,000;
- Category 3: enrolled voluntary organisations whose annual revenue exceeds €200,000.
Different rules apply to the different Categories. In effect, the objective behind this procedure is one of ensuring and enhancing transparency in all the activities undertaken by these organisations – for the benefit of the general public as well as the protection of the reputation of the Voluntary Organisation itself.
