ASIC Registered Agents - Lodging Online

Transcription

1 ASIC Registered Agents - Lodging Online From 1 October 2014, ASIC Registered Agents will be required to lodge the following forms online: Form Change to company details Form Application for voluntary deregistration of a company Form 205A - Notification of resolution to change company name Form Notification by a company to nominate or cease a registered agent or contact address For more information on these changes please visit our website at We have compiled the following Frequently Asked Questions to assist Registered Agents through this transition. Registered Agents currently lodge 92% of transactions online when an online service is offered by ASIC. This change aims to bring the remaining 8% online. 1 REGISTERED AGENTS Q. What is a Registered Agent? A Registered Agent acts as an intermediary between an Australian company and ASIC to help the company meet their lodgement obligations. They often lodge on behalf of a number of companies, so they are familiar with the requirements companies need to meet under the Corporations Act 2001 (the Act). Q. What does ASIC expect of a Registered Agent? We have developed some guidelines to assist Registered Agents in understanding their obligations. These can be found on our website at under What is a Registered Agent. Q. How can I become a Registered Agent? Registered Agents are usually members of specific Industry Associations that recognise the qualifications of these individuals and firms. To become an ASIC Registered Agent, complete the Form RA01 Notification to register, change details of, or cease as an agent. More information can be found on our website at

2 2 ONLINE SERVICES Q. What are online services? When we reference online lodgement services, we are specifically referring to; the ASIC Registered Agent portal available via the ASIC website or; the EDGE service supported by commercial software providers. We require registered agents to utilise either of these services to facilitate lodgement of four high volume forms (Forms 484, 6010, 205A and 362) from 1 October Q. How do I register for online services? To sign up for the ASIC Registered Agent portal, you need to complete, print and sign the Form RC99 ASIC Electronic Lodgement Protocol Participation Agreement. The completed form can be ed to agent.registration@asic.gov.au with the supporting evidence that is required. We will contact you via the address nominated on the application confirming online access has been granted. To register for EDGE services, you must submit an Application for EDGE participation. The completed form can be ed to agent.registration@asic.gov.au. We will contact you via the address nominated on the application confirming online access has been granted. Further information and details regarding online registration can be obtained from our website at and then Register for online access. Q. Can I continue to use my own software when the changes commence 1 October 2014? Yes, you can lodge documents and receive your statements via your software as you do now. Q. How do I reset my ASIC Registered Agent portal username and password? If you have forgotten your username and/or password, please use the Forgotten Username/Password facility located on the top left hand corner of the log on screen. Our How to log in, forgotten user name, forgotten password user guide can step you through the process. You can access them via then Support for Registered Agents. Q. How do I reset my EDGE User ID and password? Contact the ASIC Customer Contact Centre on to have your password and User ID reset. 3 PAYMENTS AND FEES Q. How can we pay using online services? Our online services (EDGE and the ASIC Registered Agent portal), provide the option for payment by way of direct debit/credit (where the agent is registered). If you do not have direct debit/credit, the online services will allow you to print an invoice to make payment later. To check the balance of a company account, Registered Agents can check online via the ASIC Registered Agent portal by lodging an RA67 Company Debt Report (which will show the balance of all companies linked to the registered agent). Registered Agents using EDGE can also check the outstanding amount for an individual company by requesting a debtor report (RA63).

3 Q. Will we receive an electronic invoice? Invoices are available through EDGE. Please check with your service provider to see what invoice services are available to you. You may wish to set up a direct debit facility so fees for online transactions can be paid via direct debit/ credit. This will avoid having to wait for invoice statements to be received via post. To set up direct debit/credit with ASIC you will need to submit a Form RA04 Direct Debit Request. You can access this form on our website at Q. Post Billpay details aren t included on electronic invoices. Will this change on 1 October? Post Billpay details will not appear on electronic invoices from 1 October However it is being considered as a future service enhancement. 4 LODGEMENT AND OTHER INFORMATION Q. Will we be able to lodge the Form 201 Application for registration as an Australian Company via the ASIC Registered Agent portal? You cannot lodge a Form 201 via the ASIC Registered Agent portal. If you require immediate registration, you may need assistance from a third party provider. You can find a third party provider listed in the yellow pages under Company Registrations or by searching Registering a company via the internet. Q. How do I lodge and pay a Form 6010 Application for voluntary deregistration of a company electronically? Our online services (EDGE and the ASIC Registered Agent portal), provide the option for payment by way of direct debit/credit (where the agent is registered). If you do not have direct debit/credit, the online services allow you to print an invoice to make payment later. To set up direct debit/credit with ASIC you will need to submit a Form RA04 Direct Debit Request. You can access this form on our website at For deregistration to proceed for 6010 applications, amounts payable to ASIC must be received within 28 days from the approval or the deregistration process will be cancelled. Any outstanding fees to ASIC must also be paid prior to the application being approved. To check the balance of a company account, Registered Agents can check online via the ASIC Registered Agent portal by lodging an RA67 Company Debt Report (which will show the balance of all companies linked to the registered agent). Registered Agents using EDGE can also check the outstanding amount for an individual company by requesting a debtor report (RA63). Q. Will the ASIC Registered Agent portal allow for changes to be applied across multiple companies? The ASIC Registered Agent portal does not offer this feature. In the event that you are using a commercial software package through our EDGE service you may need to check this functionality with your service provider. We are aware that some applications have the feature to apply a change across many entities without the need for the user to complete separate applications.

4 Q. Some forms that relate to Registered Schemes are not available for online lodgement. Are there plans to bring other forms online also? No, our online lodging requirements from 1 October 2014 do not impact scheme lodgements. Q. Will officeholders be able to lodge their own documents via mail? Individual company officeholders can still download the paper forms from our website and lodge their own printed paper forms directly with ASIC. However, ASIC s Registry is committed to 100% online interaction and in the near future, ASIC may require the online lodgement of the Form 484 Change to company details online. Company officeholders can lodge this form online via the officeholders portal. Q. Do Registered Agents still have to collect/keep officeholder approvals prior to lodging online? A copy of a signed Form 362 must be retained. For other documents, it is important that you retain for your own records specific instructions or authority from the officeholder. It is sufficient to retain ed instructions, it is not necessary to print the form and retain an original signature on the document. These instructions can be scanned and retained as a soft copy. Whoever maintains the company register should be able to access the appropriate authorisation for the changes performed. Q. Can more than one employee be registered under an agent number to use the ASIC Registered Agent portal? Multiple users can be appointed under each Registered Agent number. Each individual employee will need to apply for their own access using the Form RC99. They will need their own individual user name and password (chosen when completed the Form RC99). Each user registered under an agent number will be able to access the same company information linked to that registered agent number. Q. I have a lot of companies that I want to link to my agent number. Can I lodge one Form 362 to do this? ASIC may on the request of a Registered Agent, accept a bulk lodgement of more than 20 companies that has been signed by the agent. The Form 362 must be lodged with each company listed in an annexure and also have a statutory declaration or signed letter that sets out the following information: All companies in the annexure to the Form 362 are aware of and agree to [Agent Name][Agent Number] being appointed as Registered Agent. Once the Form 362 is completed it can be lodged as an exception to askus@asic.gov.au. 5 DATA OR ONLINE LODGEMENT ISSUES You may currently experience a data or online lodgement issue that restricts you from completing the lodgement online. For these transactions we will accept a Request to Lodge Documents via . Q. What documents will ASIC accept via ? You can lodge the Forms 205A, 362, 484 and 6010 only. Q. How do I lodge document(s) when I encounter an online lodgement issue? We will support online lodgement issues by way of a dedicated box. For these transactions you will need to submit a Request to Lodge Documents via . You must be a Registered Agent to use this service, and be registered to use the ASIC Registered Agent portal or EDGE services.

5 Q. If I register to use the Registered Agent portal, will I still be able to receive Annual Statement Packages via EDGE? If the agent is registered to use both EDGE and the ASIC Registered Agent portal, the Annual Statement Package (ASP) will be sent to both services. It is recommended that agents do not open Annual Statement Packages (ASPs) in the Registered Agent portal inbox if they want the data to go to EDGE. If the ASP is collected from EDGE first, the ASP will still be available in the ASIC Registered Agent portal. If the ASP is collected from ASIC Registered Agent portal first, the ASP will not be available in EDGE. Q. Am I able to lodge documents that are outside the six month EDGE expiry date? No, you will be unable to lodge a form through EDGE if the date of signing (authorisation by the officeholder) is more than 6 months in the past. In this case, you will need to obtain more recent authorisation from the officeholder to proceed with the lodgement of the form.