Every so often CorpSec Services receives a call from a distressed director who has just learned that their trading company has been deregistered. ASIC has struck it off the Companies Register and the company is no longer active!
It is the worst day of a director’s business life if this has happened to a trading company, or to a company that owns assets, or even to a corporate trustee of a trust or self-managed superannuation fund.
A supplier or business partner or financial lender may have searched the company’s ABN or searched ASIC's public register and found the company no longer exists.
In the case of our recent client, she had just purchased a property in the name of her company. Whilst conducting the usual due diligence and credit checks, her financial lender found that the company was deregistered. The lender also asked her to explain the 5 counts of ‘director-related’ adverse strikes against her name recorded by ASIC. Imagine the stress of this happening. We then receive the distressed call from the director asking for urgent help. They are often confused how this could possibly happen.
It’s easy! All it takes is for a sole director /shareholder to have used one address across all their company addresses when setting up their company and then subsequently move addresses and fail to advise ASIC. If the company does not have an ASIC agent appointed, ASIC mail will not reach the director and if the annual renewal fee remains unpaid, ASIC will initiate deregistration of the company. It does not matter if the company is trading or if the company owns assets or even has debts, ASIC has the power to deregister your company if the annual renewal fee remains unpaid for more than 12 months.
Even with all the safeguards and the legal requirement to advise ASIC of changes to addresses within 28 days, it happens all too often.
Usually the conversation goes like:
“I’ve just found out my company has been deregistered, can you please help me have it reinstated urgently?”
It is often a difficult conversation to explain that:
1) It will be an expensive exercise to pay the Company's outstanding ASIC debt, usually around $1,000; and
2) ASIC’s processes with regards to company reinstatements are so archaic and overloaded that it will take approximately 1 month for the company to be registered again.
Of course, this would never happen if CorpSec Services was acting as their ASIC registered agent. We ensure address changes are advised promptly to ASIC and also ensure clients are never in the position that their active company is deregistered by ASIC.
Contact us at team@corpsecservices.com.au to enquire about our ASIC Registered Agent Services and for assistance in stopping an ASIC-initiated deregistration currently in progress or to urgently reinstate a company.
