Every company registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has an annual review date, which is usually on the anniversary of the original company registration.

What are the obligations relating to Annual Review Date?

Soon after its annual review date each year, ASIC issues each registered company an annual statement and an invoice statement for the annual review fee. Annual review fee is required to be paid to keep the company registered.

An annual statement will reflect the most updated details relating to the company such as, the names of officeholders, the registered address, the share structure, etc. The company should ensure that these details are accurate.

What are possible outcomes of the ASIC annual review?

The possible outcomes of the ASIC annual review may be:

All of the information is right:

At this point, nothing more needs to be done other than the payment of the annual review fee. The payment is due within two months from the issue date of the annual statement.

The information is only partially right:

It is the company directors’ responsibility that all company details are correct and all changes are reported to ASIC. All changes must be lodged with ASIC within 28 days from the issue date of the annual statement.

Late payments of fees:

A late review fee will be charged by ASIC in the case of failure to notify of correct information within the 28 day review period.

The consequences of not paying an annual review fee or not registering company information changes may be quite severe and implemented by both the ATO and ASIC. ASIC does have the right to deregister a company upon failure to pay annual review fees.