Destiny Church says it was not given a chance to tell its side of the story before the Charities Registration Board decided to strip two of its charities of their tax-free status.
The Board last night announced it had decided to remove Destiny International Trust and Te Hahi o Nga Matamua Holdings Limited - two of Destiny's largest entities - from the Charities Register on December 20 "because of the charities' persistent failure to meet their annual return obligations".
In an email to media last night following the decision, Destiny Church spokesperson Anne Williamson said the church only received notice of the decision yesterday at 4.59pm, which she said contravenes the Charities Act.
"The charities have received no correspondence from the Board since the objections were lodged, let alone any reasonable notice of the proposed hearing to consider the objections to the removal, any advice or a copy of the material that the Board would be considering or provided with an opportunity to make submissions," Ms Williamson said.
"The Charities are very disappointed with the incompetent way this has been handled by the Board and with the decision that has been advised, which is clearly wrong," she said.
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According to the Charities Act, the Charities Registration Board is required to "observe the rules of natural justice" while considering a deregistration, and to "give the entity a reasonable opportunity to make submissions to the Board on the matter".
Ms Williamson said an appeal against the Board's decision will be launched, as per their rights under the Charities Act, and said the church will seek to recoup the costs of such an appeal "given what has happened and how".
"The Charities are now forced to request that the decision be recalled and that an apology be issued for the manner in which the objections have been handled," Ms Williamson said.
"The public and Destiny deserve better."
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Ms Williamson insisted that Destiny "remains committed to meeting its requirements under the Charities Act" in terms of filing annual returns.
Annual financial returns for the two charities have not been posted on the Charities Services website since September 30, 2015, despite extensions being granted for both returns to be completed by November 30, 2016 - months after they were due.
While it does not appear on the website, Ms Williamson says a return for the year to 2016 "has been correctly filed and no criticism of it or its compliance has been received by the Charites".
Destiny says it has engaged Grant Thornton for its audit services and will file their outstanding returns by December 1.
If deregistered, Destiny could face a significant tax bill, as entities which are deregistered can be subject to a one-off tax on their accumulated assets at the time of deregistration.
"A deregistered charity has twelve months to distribute those assets to another registered charity or give assets to charitable purposes ... assets which have not been distributed within twelve months of deregistration will be taxed," the Charities Services website reads.
The two entities reported a total combined income for the year ended March 31 2015 of $2.58 million.
1 NEWS has contacted Charity Services for comment.
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