Do I Have To Let ASIC Know If I Make Changes In My Company?

Whenever you want to add a new partner, director, secretary or share holder to your company, it is imperative to contact the ASIC. As part of having a business in Australia you have to keep them updated with all of your current information.

As the secretary of your company, it is your obligation to contact the ASIC. Now depending on the size of your company, the secretary and the director may be the same person. That's ok, just keep in mind for any big changes, such as adding share holders and such, you have to keep your public records through ASIC updated.

When you decide to add a share holder or a new partner there are other things you should keep in mind. First you might want to get some legal advice. Of course by adding either of these two positions to your company you would need to make some agreements. Just be sure you are going into the change with your eyes wide open.

Once you have everything in place and you are at the point where it will all be official you will have to contact ASIC to update things. You can use the information from their website about adding people. There is a form to fill out for each person, you have to include their name, maiden name, birth city, address, and contact information. Once you have it all filled out you can mail it to ASIC. 

The form is called the 484 Form and it is used for almost any changes in the company. You can use it to change addresses, names of officers, appointing new officeholders, or when you lose a shareholder. You can also use it to issue shares of the company, cancel shares, change the structure of the company shares, and more.

You will have up to 28 days after the event to lodge the form. During this time there is no charge for filing the form. After the 28 days, you will be charged $65 for it being up to 30 days late and $270 for it being more than a month late.

If you are registered online as an officer you can fill out the form and lodge it that way. This is a lot easier to make changes than printing out the forms and sending in the mail, and it saves the chances of anything getting lost in the mail, which could cause some charges for being lodged late.

When making changes to your company there is just one other thing to keep in mind. Everything that you needed when you first registered is still needed to continue business. That means if you had separate office holders such as the secretary and the director and the secretary steps down, you have to register yourself as the director. It is not automatically assumed by the ASIC.

No matter what changes you make in your company it is important to make sure they are legal as far as the ASIC goes, and as long as you are within their standards you are welcome to continue business, just keep them updated, and most of the time you can use form 484 for informational changes. Or you can use the company that registered your company to assist you in this process.

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