ASIC Late Fee Waivers

So despite knowing about your ASIC Company Annual Review fees for 2 months and getting a reminder from your ASIC Agent (hopefully), you have still neglected to pay your ASIC fee on time and received a late fee.  This is not great news for a number of reasons.  Firstly, ASIC Company Annual Review late fees are excessive.  They start at over $80 as soon as you tick over one day late and rise to over $340 for one month late.  Secondly, they are notoriously difficult to get reversed or waived.  Difficult, but not impossible.

So where do you go to get a late fee waived and what is the process?  And perhaps most importantly, what are your chances of getting a fee waiver approved?

You will need to go to the following website: https://asic.gov.au/for-business/payments-fees-and-invoices/fee-waivers/

This is where the difficulty starts.  ASIC only consider waiving a late fee where there were issues beyond the control of all representatives of the entity which prevented them from lodging on time or making payment.

Some examples include:

• delay caused by issues with ASIC (e.g. processing delay)

• court caused delay (e.g. a court did not issue a signed copy of an order in time)

• records needed to lodge were damaged by fire, flood, or other disasters, or

• a natural disaster prevented you from accessing records in your home or business.

ASIC will not waive a fee if:

• the entity's representatives failed to lodge on time

• you did not receive the annual statement notice, or

• you do not have enough funds to pay the fee.

So what are your realistic chances of getting an ASIC late fee waived?  Not great.  Unless you can provide evidence that all representatives of the company (and this is easier if there is just one Director) had a material issue that affected their ability to pay the fee on time.  Examples might include:

• A significant hospital stay

• Death of a Director

• Natural disaster

If you decide to apply for a late fee waiver you must first ensure you have paid the Company Annual Review fee (don’t pay the late fee at this stage).  Keep in mind that it can take up to 28 days for processing and if unsuccessful you may incur further late fees.

I strongly recommend using an ASIC Agent that has a reminder system in place to ensure fees are paid on time and late fees are avoided.  Late fee prevention is better than late fee cure.

If you require any support or advice with your ASIC late fee waiver please feel free to contact our staff at Moran Financial for assistance.