A company’s annual review process is an important obligation in basic company compliance, however according to ASIC:
An average of 18 000 paper Annual Statement Packs issued to companies are returned to ASIC undelivered.
Approximately 33 800 electronic Annual Statement packs are uncollected from their company’s portal.
ASIC have also advised that each year:
18% of all registered companies receive late fees for late lodgement of their Annual Statement, which is costly for a company and indicates that a lot of companies do not understand their basic company compliance requirements.
Deregistration actions are initiated against 25 000 companies who have failed to pay their review fee for more than 12 months, which can be embarrassing for company directors who intend for their company to continue trading.
50% of newly registered companies receive last fees for failing to pay their first annual fee on time. It can be assumed from this, that these companies have also failed to review their company details and, where applicable, have failed to update ASIC of any changes to the company, such as change in company officers or change in registered address.
3,000 to 4,000 companies are annually contacted by ASIC for failing to update their details on the corporate register, including not meeting the requirements of either the correct number of officeholders appointed or the residency requirements of officeholders.
It is critically important to lodge the company’s Annual Statement, to avoid heavy penalties that can arise form such simple omissions as follows:
Reviewing the company’s details.
Advising ASIC of company changes within 28 days.
Paying the annual fee within two months of the company’s annual review date.
Pass a solvency resolution.
The need to deregister a company if it is no longer required, to avoid ongoing fees and legal risk.
If in doubt, Tangible Assets offers a complete Company Compliance solution, whereby for a minimal annual subscription fee. You can make unlimited changes to office holders & the registered address, and we will ensure your company’s Annual Statement will avoid late fees by being lodged on time.
