Deregister a company
Voluntarily deregister your company
A company officially closes when it is deregistered with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).
When you deregister a company, it will cease to exist as a legal entity and is no longer able to trade.
Until you deregister the company, it must continue to meet all the legal requirements of a company. This includes annual review fee payments, even if it is no longer trading.
Consult your legal adviser, accountant or business adviser for advice to make sure closing your business is the right move.
Eligibility to voluntarily deregister
Only solvent companies can voluntarily deregister. If your company is insolvent, read ASIC’s guidance on how you can wind up an insolvent company. In order to voluntarily deregister your company, it must meet all of the following conditions:
- all members of the company agree to deregister
- the company has stopped trading
- the company's assets are worth less than $1000
- the company has no more outstanding liabilities, including employee entitlements
- the company is not involved in any legal proceedings
- the company has paid all fees and penalties payable to ASIC
Application for voluntary deregistration of a company
You can deregister your company with ASIC. Before you deregister your company make sure:
- your company bank accounts are closed
- any registered business names and licenses are cancelled
- your final tax return has been lodged
It costs $47 to apply for voluntary deregistration.
If you're submitting your application online, you’ll need to pay any other outstanding ASIC fees before you can submit your application. The application fee itself will be invoiced after submission and needs to be paid within 28 days, otherwise your application will lapse and you will need to re-apply.
Applications submitted on a paper form will need to include a cheque to pay for the application fee and any other outstanding ASIC fees.
If your company’s annual review fee is about to be due, you will need to make sure that your deregistration application is received and processed by ASIC at least two weeks before the due date. If the application is not received on time, the annual review fee will need to be paid in full even if the company is no longer in use. Consider submitting online to make sure your deregistration application is received and processed on time.
If ASIC rejects your application, they will write to you to advise why they rejected your application. You can contact ASIC if you have any further questions about your application.
If ASIC approves your application, they will write to you to confirm your company's impending deregistration and publish a notice on ASIC's Published notices website.
Applications submitted in paper can take up to two weeks (including postage) for ASIC to process and publish a notice on their website.
Applications lodged online will be processed immediately.
Two months after the notice has been published, your company may be deregistered. ASIC will send you a confirmation notice.
If you apply for deregistration and you do not meet all these requirements (e.g. your company has more than $1000 in assets), ASIC will reject your application. They will write to you to advise why they rejected your application. ASIC will not refund your application fee.
The members of the company can then choose to wind up the company voluntarily, in order to close the company.
Visit the ASIC website for more information on closing down your company.
There are two methods to reinstate a deregistered company:
- apply to ASIC for reinstatement
- apply to the court to order ASIC to reinstate your company - this can be used if you don’t meet ASIC’s criteria for reinstatement
Reinstating your company will restore it to a registered company as if it were never deregistered.
Read more about reinstating a deregistered company on the ASIC website.
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