Annual filing requirements of friendly societies

Annual returns

You must file your friendly society’s annual return each year within 4 months of the balance date.

Annual return forms

The form you need to use will depend on the type of friendly society. 

Financial statements

Auditing

The Act requires a society to appoint an auditor to audit its financial statements where the society:

• is a specified not-for-profit (NFP) entity or
• is not a specified NFP entity and the rules of the society require.

A specified NFP entity is one that has total operating payments of $140,000 or more in each of the 2 preceding accounting periods.

If your society is an FMC reporting entity

If your friendly society is an FMC reporting entity it is required to prepare and lodge audited financial statements in accordance with subpart 3 of Part 7 of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 (which relates to preparing, auditing and lodging financial statements)

Which societies may opt-out

A friendly society may opt out of preparation of financial statements required under the Friendly Societies and Credit Unions Act 1982 (the Act):

• by way of resolution of the majority of the members,
• if it has less than $33 million of total operating expenditure in each of the two preceding financial years,
• unless the rules of the society expressly provide that the opt-out does not apply.

File formats for uploading documents

Any forms or documents you upload must be:

• clear and easily read
• saved in PDF format, and
• no larger than 20MB.

The details you need to confirm

To complete your annual return, you also need to check the following details (and update them if needed):

• Contact phone number
• Contact email address
• Registered office address.
  Note — If this address has changed, update the register before you begin your annual return.
  Read our help guide on updating a friendly society’s registered office address

Fees and levies apply

The fee for filing an annual return for a friendly society is $62.52 (plus GST). This fee includes both a Financial Markets Authority (FMA) levy and an External Reporting Board (XRB) levy.

The fee for lodging financial statements for a friendly society under the Friendly Societies and Credit Unions Act 1982 is $175 (plus GST).

If you are lodging financial statements under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 the fee is $255 (plus GST). This fee includes an FMA levy.

Payment options

We offer 2 payment options for paying fees credit or debit card, and direct debit. To pay by direct debit you will need to set up the direct debit facility several days beforehand.

How to complete your return online

You will need:

• a RealMe® login
• confirmed authority with us to update the register for this society, and
• card details or a direct debit to pay the fees.

If it is your first time updating details for a friendly society, you will be prompted for information to set up an online account with us.

For help check our guides

Step by step

1. Log in using your RealMe login.
2. Select 'Authorities' from the menu.
3. Choose your friendly society from the list.
4. Go to ‘In Progress Filing Services’.
5. Edit the draft ‘Annual Return’.
6. Upload the documents, including your:
   • Completed annual return form.
   • Audited financial statements (if applicable).
   • Completed form FMC1 (if applicable).
7. Check the registered details.
   1. Update your society's contact details (if they have changed).
   2. If changes have not yet been recorded (such as your registered office address):
      • Save and Exit.
      • Update the register.
      • Return to and complete your annual return.
8. Submit your annual return and pay the fees.
9. Wait for the payment confirmation before closing the window.
   Find out what payment options are available.

Update a society

We will send you an email confirming that your annual return has been submitted. We will then review your return and contact you if we have any questions or need any further information. We aim to complete our review within 10 working days.

If we register your annual return, we will confirm that by email. If we reject it, we will email you and outline the reasons why.

You can check the status of your annual return by logging into the register. Choose the ‘Filing Services’ option to view any register updates that are in progress. If your annual return status shows as ‘Draft’ you can edit it by choosing the drop-down arrow alongside the filing service. 

Check the status of an update

Last updated September 2025