Updating your society's contact details on the register

How to change your society’s contact details

New legislation for incorporated societies

Between 5 October 2023 and 5 April 2026 there are 2 Acts in force.

If your society —

  • registered for the first time on or after 5 October 2023, the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 (2022 Act) applies.
  • registered before 5 October 2023 and has reregistered since then, the 2022 Act applies.
  • registered before 5 October 2023 and has not yet reregistered, the Incorporated Societies Act 1908 (1908 Act) applies.

To update your society's details using our online service, you must have:

  • a RealMe® login
  • an online services account for the Incorporated Societies Register
  • authority to manage information on the register for your society.

Contact details that must be kept up to date

Registered office address

This is the official address for your society and is displayed on the register. The registered office address is where your society keeps its records, which could include your register of members. It’s also an address that anyone can use to contact your society and deliver any legal documents, such as court documents.

It must be a full physical address — you can’t use a Post Office box, Private Bag or DX address as the registered office.

You must tell us when your registered office address changes. If your society is registered under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 you must notify us at least 5 working days before a change of address for the registered office is due to take effect.

Address for communications

You must provide a physical or postal address for communications. We don’t publish this address on the public register, but we’ll use it if we need to send letters to your society. Choose an address that’s actively monitored by someone in your society and make sure it’s kept up to date.

Society contact details

Email is the main way we keep in touch with societies on the register, so you need to provide us an email address for communications.

We don’t publish this address on the public register, but it is used by us as a point of contact with your society. For instance, we use this email address to send reminders to file your society’s annual financial statements and — for 2022 Act societies — their annual return. Choose an address that’s actively monitored by someone in your society and make sure it’s kept up to date.

You have the option to provide us with a contact phone number for your society – either a landline or a mobile phone number. The number will not be visible on the public register, it will only be used by us as another point of contact.

Contact person

Contact person — This only applies to societies registered under the 2022 Act
Contact person — This only applies to societies registered under the 2022 Act

Your society must have at least one contact person and no more than 3. Your society’s constitution must specify how each contact person is appointed or elected. To be a contact person they don’t need to be an officer of your society, but it should be someone who can handle enquiries from us.

For each contact person you’ll need to provide —

  • their name,
  • a physical or postal address,
  • an email address, and
  • a telephone number.

The contact person’s address details need to be different than the society addresses for communication provided above.

We don’t publish the contact person’s details on the public register — but they may be used by the Registrar to contact the society, so it’s important to keep them up to date.

How to update society contact details on the register

  1. Log in to your online services account.
  2. On the dashboard, select the society you wish to update from 'My Businesses'.
  3. On the 'View Details' page, select the 'Addresses' tab, and click the 'Change Addresses' button.
  4. Add the new details as appropriate.
  5. Complete the signatory details and select 'Submit'.
Update contact details for a society

Related articles

All help topics

Getting started on the register 7 guides

Searching the Incorporated Societies Register 2 guides

Find out how to search our registers for information about incorporated societies, and other entities

Starting an incorporated society 5 guides

To incorporate a society in New Zealand you must submit an application, along with the required documents, and pay a registration fee.

Reregistering under the 2022 Act 6 guides

Running your incorporated society 7 guides

Once you’ve registered, you’ll need to keep your details on the register up to date, and follow the rules that apply to incorporated societies and how they are run.

Meeting your annual filing requirements 3 guides

Once you've registered your incorporated society, you'll need to file annual financial statements. Societies registered under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 must also complete an annual return.

Ending an incorporated society 2 guides

When an incorporated society reaches the end of its 'life', it must be wound up and removed from the register. Here we outline the ways this can be done – by dissolving the society (1908 Act), removing the society from the register (2022 Act) or placing it in liquidation.

Restoring an incorporated society to the register 2 guides

An application can be made to us to have an incorporated society restored to the register, by the society itself, or by a creditor. You'll need to provide evidence to support your application.

Forms and fees 3 guides

The forms you might need to update a society's details, along with the fees that apply and ways you can pay.

Managing your online account 7 guides