What ASIC fees actually pay for
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is the federal regulator that maintains the corporate register, polices the Corporations Act 2001, and oversees the integrity of every Australian company, business name, and licensed financial service. The fees you pay ASIC are not a tax — they are cost-recovery charges that fund the running of the register and the regulator itself.
Each fee you encounter has a clear job. The registration fee pays for ASIC to incorporate a new company and issue an Australian Company Number (ACN). The annual review fee pays for ongoing maintenance of that company's record. Business name fees pay for the right to trade under a name that is not your personal name. Late fees punish missed deadlines. Deregistration fees cover the work of removing a company from the register cleanly.
Knowing what each line item funds makes the schedule easier to read. None of these fees are negotiable, and none can be waived for new businesses or hardship — ASIC treats every company the same. The only legitimate way to pay less is to qualify for the special-purpose discount, which we cover further down.
Every common ASIC fee for 2025–26
Below is the full schedule of fees most founders will encounter during a normal company's life. These are the figures ASIC published for the financial year 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. The schedule was indexed on 1 July 2025 and will index again on 1 July 2026, so always check the live ASIC fees page before you lodge anything close to the year boundary.
ASIC fees 2025–26 (current to 30 June 2026)
| Fee | Amount | When you pay it |
|---|---|---|
| Company registration (proprietary, limited by shares) | $611 | Once, at incorporation |
| Annual review — standard company | $329 | Every year, on the anniversary of registration |
| Annual review — special-purpose company | $67 | Every year, if your company qualifies |
| Late annual review payment (1–28 days late) | $98 | On top of the review fee, if you pay within 28 days of the due date |
| Late annual review payment (more than 28 days late) | $411 | On top of the review fee, if you pay 29+ days late |
| Reservation of a company name (Form 410) | $61 | Once, holds the name for 2 months |
| Business name registration — 1 year | $44 | At registration or renewal |
| Business name registration — 3 years | $102 | At registration or renewal (better value) |
| Voluntary deregistration of a company (Form 6010) | $46 | Once, when winding the company up |
Why ASIC fees go up every 1 July
ASIC fees are indexed annually on 1 July under the Commonwealth Cost Recovery Guidelines, which require regulators to recover the cost of the services they provide. The Australian Government uses the Consumer Price Index (CPI) movement to set the annual uplift, then publishes the new schedule in the weeks leading up to the new financial year.
The practical effect is that the figures climb by a small amount each year — sometimes a dollar or two, sometimes ten or more on the larger line items. The increases compound over time, which is why a company registration that cost a few hundred dollars in the late 1990s sits at $611 today.
If you are paying ASIC across the 30 June / 1 July boundary, the date your payment is received determines which year's fee applies. Lodge a form on 30 June and you pay the old amount. Lodge it on 1 July and you pay the new amount, even if the form was prepared days earlier. For high-value lodgements, that timing matters.
Lodgement timing tip
If you are registering a new company in late June, it can be worth lodging before 1 July to capture the current year's fee. The saving is usually $5–$20 per fee line, but it adds up if you are setting up several entities at once.
Annual review — standard vs special-purpose
The annual review fee is the single biggest recurring cost of running a company. Every Australian company pays it every year, on the anniversary of its registration date, for as long as it exists on the register. The standard rate for 2025–26 is $329. The special-purpose rate is $67 — roughly one-fifth of the standard fee.
Special-purpose companies exist for one narrow reason, and their constitution restricts them to that purpose. The two common categories are corporate trustees of regulated Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSFs) and not-for-profit companies limited by guarantee. ASIC recognises that these entities hold no operating assets, generate no trading income, and impose less regulatory burden than a trading company, so it charges a lower fee.
If you set up a company that will only ever act as the trustee of your SMSF or family trust, asking your registered agent to lodge it with a special-purpose constitution can save you over $250 every year for the life of the company. Over 20 years, that is more than $5,000 in fees you do not pay.
What disqualifies you from the discount
The special-purpose discount only applies while the company sticks to its restricted purpose. If a corporate trustee starts trading, takes out a loan in its own name to invest in operating assets, or holds assets outside the trust it was set up to administer, ASIC will reclassify it as a standard company and bill the $329 annual review fee from the next anniversary onwards.
The same applies to limited-by-guarantee companies that drift away from their stated charitable or community purpose. Keep the constitution tight and the company within its lane, or accept the standard fee.
What happens when an ASIC fee is paid late
ASIC issues an annual review notice roughly six weeks before the anniversary of your company's registration. The notice arrives at the registered office address (or at the email of your registered agent) and tells you exactly how much is owed and when it is due. The due date is two months after the anniversary.
Miss that date and the late fee schedule kicks in immediately. If you pay within 28 days of the due date, ASIC adds a $98 late fee. If you pay 29 or more days late, the late fee jumps to $411. These are flat amounts, not percentages, and they apply on top of the original annual review fee — so a standard company that pays a year late is looking at $329 plus $411, a total of $732.
If the debt stays unpaid for several months, ASIC will issue a notice of intention to deregister the company. After a further two months without payment, the company is struck off the register. Once that happens, the directors lose limited liability protection retroactively, any property the company owned becomes Commonwealth property under section 601AD of the Corporations Act, and reinstating the entity requires either an ASIC application or a court order — both of which cost considerably more than the original fee.
The simple rule: pay before the due date. Set a calendar reminder on the anniversary of your registration. If you would rather not think about it, an ongoing compliance service like Structly Assist will track the date and remind you well in advance.
Late fees are unavoidable
ASIC does not waive late fees for first-time founders, illness, change of address, or any other reason short of a system outage on ASIC's side. Once the fee is triggered, it is triggered. Always confirm your registered office address is current — that is where the review notice is sent.
Name reservation and business name fees
If you have settled on a company name but you are not ready to incorporate yet, ASIC will hold it for you. A name reservation under Form 410 costs $61 and locks the name in for two months. You can renew the reservation, but it is usually cheaper to either register the company outright or wait until you are ready.
Business names are separate from company names. A business name is the trading name you operate under in public — your shopfront, your invoices, your website. The Australian Business Register (ABR) charges $44 for a one-year registration or $102 for three years. The three-year option saves you $30 over the same period and removes the renewal admin from your annual to-do list.
You only need a business name if the name you trade under is different from your legal name (for a sole trader) or different from your company name (for a Pty Ltd company). If your company is called Smith Plumbing Pty Ltd and you also trade as Smith Plumbing, you do not need a separate business name. If your company is called Smith Plumbing Pty Ltd but you also trade as Brisbane Pipe Co, that second name needs to be registered.
What it costs to close a company down
When you decide to wind a company up, ASIC charges $46 to process a voluntary deregistration under Form 6010. The fee is small, but the requirements to qualify are strict. The company must have no outstanding debts, no assets worth more than $1,000, no current legal proceedings, and the consent of all its members.
If the company has assets above the threshold, debts, or any complexity around tax or super, you cannot simply deregister — you need to go through a formal members' voluntary liquidation, which involves a registered liquidator and costs several thousand dollars. That is well beyond the scope of an ASIC form.
Many founders forget that a company keeps incurring the $329 annual review fee for as long as it sits on the register, even if it has not traded in years. If you are confident the entity will never be used again, deregistering it cleanly for $46 is almost always cheaper than letting the annual reviews stack up. Talk to your accountant about whether the timing is right — sometimes there are tax reasons to keep a dormant entity alive a little longer.
Where Structly's pricing sits against the ASIC fees
When you register a company through Structly, the $611 ASIC registration fee passes through to ASIC unchanged. Our $88 service fee is shown as a separate line item so you can see exactly where each dollar goes. The total is $699 for a Company Registration on its own.
Most founders add the ABN Package ($99) and a one-year business name ($89, including the $45 ASIC fee) alongside company registration, bringing a typical full setup to $887. Each product is priced on its own and shows as a separate line at checkout — no bundle pricing, no surprises.
For corporate trustees, our Trustee Company package is $699 and includes the $611 ASIC fee plus a trustee constitution. Where the company's sole purpose is acting as trustee of an SMSF, that qualifies it for the $67 special-purpose annual review fee from year one; trustees of family or other trusts pay the standard $329. Stanley can walk you through which package fits your situation in about a minute.