The annual review date is the anniversary of registration, not a date you pick
For most companies and schemes, ASIC's own words are exact: the annual review date is the anniversary of the date the company was registered or incorporated. It repeats every single year for as long as the company exists, and it is not tied to your ABN, your GST registration, or the date you took on your first employee. Those all run on their own clocks, kept by the ATO rather than ASIC.
ASIC sends an annual statement soon after that date, an invoice for the review fee alongside a list of the details it holds on the company. If nothing has arrived within about 15 business days of the review date, that is the point to contact ASIC directly rather than assume it has been missed.
The fee and the solvency resolution share one clock, not two
Both fall due two months after the review date, and it is worth being precise about that, because it reads like two separate deadlines and is not. Pay the fee, and in the same window directors pass, and keep on file, a resolution that the company is able to pay its debts as they fall due. The resolution is not needed for a year in which the company has already lodged a financial report with ASIC in the past 12 months, which is the exception most small proprietary companies never hit, since only a limited set of companies lodge one at all.
The late fee has two tiers, and they move every 1 July
Pay after the due date and a late fee applies, in two bands rather than a fee that grows every day: $102 for payment made up to one month after the due date, and $428 for anything later than that. There is no third, larger tier for a payment that drags on for months, though ASIC's own deregistration process is what waits at the far end of that (see below). Both figures are current from 1 July 2026, taken directly from ASIC's own fee schedule rather than carried forward from an older page, because ASIC increases some of its fees every year from that date, in line with the Consumer Price Index. A fee that has not been checked in a year or two is exactly the sort of figure worth confirming again at asic.gov.au before relying on it.
Unpaid for a year, and ASIC can start striking the company off
Ask ASIC why it deregisters a company and the answer, in its own words, comes back the same way most of the time: the annual review fee was not paid in full for at least twelve months after it was due. It is a process rather than a single event: a letter to the company, its directors and any liquidator, the company's status on the register changed to "strike off in progress", and then a further two months' public notice on ASIC's own published notices site before deregistration takes effect. A company can still stop that in progress by paying what it owes inside the two month window, which is a real and workable second chance rather than a formality.
Ten years upfront buys the fee, not the paperwork
A company can elect to pay its annual review fee ten review dates ahead, at a genuine discount against ten separate payments, and no late fee can ever attach to a review date it already covers. What it does not buy is an exemption from the two things that are not a fee: the yearly check of the company's own details, and the solvency resolution, both still owed every single year regardless of how the fee itself was paid. The advance payment cannot be refunded, even if the company closes early, and it does not sit on the account as credit against anything else the company owes ASIC.
Built for an ordinary proprietary or public company
This tool is built around an ordinary proprietary or public company, the case that covers the overwhelming majority of Australian companies. It does not model a registered scheme, a company already in liquidation, or an entity registered with the ACNC, all of which run on different fee rules of their own. It calculates a date and a fee off ASIC's own published schedule. It does not tell you whether the company is otherwise meeting its obligations under the Corporations Act, and it is not a substitute for reading the actual annual statement ASIC sends.
Nothing typed into this page reaches a server. The arithmetic runs in the browser, and closing the tab discards it.
Common questions
When is my company's annual review date?
For most companies it is the anniversary of the day ASIC first registered the company, repeating every year for as long as it exists. It has nothing to do with when you registered for GST, took on your first employee, or any other date the ATO holds. ASIC's own annual review page sends the statement soon after that anniversary, not on it, so check the certificate of registration rather than guess from when the statement arrives.
When is the fee due, and how much is it?
Two months after the review date, stated on the annual statement itself. From 1 July 2026 a proprietary company pays $342 and a public company pays $1,591, dropping to $70 and $65 for a special purpose company. These are ASIC's own current figures, not a rough guide, and they move again on the next 1 July.
What are the late fee tiers, and are they likely to change?
Two tiers, both current from 1 July 2026: $102 for payment made up to one month after the due date, and $428 beyond that. There is no third, bigger tier for a payment that is later still. ASIC increases some of its fees every 1 July in line with the Consumer Price Index, so treat these two figures as a snapshot rather than a permanent number, and check asic.gov.au directly if a long time has passed since.
Do directors need a solvency resolution every single year?
Yes, on the same two month clock as the fee, unless the company has already lodged a financial report with ASIC in the past 12 months. It is a resolution that the company can pay its debts as they fall due, and it has to be kept on file, not only passed and forgotten about.
What happens if the fee goes unpaid for a long time?
Twelve months unpaid after the due date is, by ASIC's own account, the most common reason it starts deregistering a company. It is not instant: a letter goes to the company, its directors and any liquidator, the register is marked "strike off in progress", and a further two months runs on ASIC's own published notices site before it happens. Paying what is owed inside that window stops it.
Can I pay ten years upfront, and does that mean I can forget about the company?
You can pay ten years in advance at a discount, and no late fee can ever attach to a review date it covers. It does not touch the two things that are not a fee: the yearly check of the company's details, and the solvency resolution, both still owed every year regardless. The advance payment cannot be refunded, even if the company closes early, and it is not usable as credit against anything else the company owes ASIC.
Is the fee different for a special purpose company?
Considerably. A special purpose proprietary company pays $70 against an ordinary proprietary company's $342, and a special purpose company that is not proprietary pays $65 against $1,591. The category covers things like a company limited by guarantee that is barred from using "Limited" in its name, and a company whose only role is acting as trustee of a regulated superannuation fund. Most ordinary trading companies are not this.
I don't use this company any more. Do I still owe the fee?
Yes. ASIC keeps charging the annual review fee, and directors keep their duties under the Corporations Act, for as long as the company stays registered, whether or not it is trading, and that is the trap. If there is no further use for it, voluntary deregistration is the way to stop the clock, rather than letting the fee lapse into a late one.