Published 2026-10-18 | CorpArray Insights
Every year, ASIC sends a company statement to thousands of Indian-owned Australian companies. Many of them sit unread in an inbox that belongs to a former director, a previous accountant, or a registered office address nobody visits. Miss the deadline and the cost is a late fee. Ignore it long enough and ASIC can start the process of deregistering your company. This guide explains how the ASIC annual review works in 2026 and how to handle it when your owners, directors, or head office are in India.
The annual review is the yearly check-in every registered Australian company has with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). ASIC sends a company statement. You check that your details are correct, update anything that has changed, and pay the annual review fee.
It is not a tax return and it is not a financial report. It is a corporate housekeeping obligation, but a missed one has real consequences.
Your review date is the anniversary of the day your company was registered. ASIC issues the statement and invoice around that date. You then have two months from the review date to pay without a late fee. Mark this date in your calendar, because it recurs every year.
The fee depends on your company type:
The late fees are:
A late fee on a $342 annual review is a poor use of money, especially when it comes from an avoidable email mix-up.
Indian businesses usually enter Australia in one of two ways, and the annual review differs for each.
This is the most common route. The Australian company is a separate legal entity, registered with ASIC. It pays the proprietary company review fee ($342). Its shareholder may be an Indian company, an Indian resident individual, or a holding structure in another country.
If your Indian company registered directly with ASIC to operate in Australia, you are a registered foreign company. The annual review fee is $1,583. A registered foreign company must also keep a local agent in Australia, and ASIC needs that agent's details to be current.
If you are unsure which category you fall into, check your ASIC registration. The answer changes both your fee and your obligations.
ASIC sends the statement and invoice to your company's contact email and registered office. For Indian-owned companies this is the biggest point of failure. Common causes include:
Log in to ASIC Connect or ask your corporate service provider to confirm the contact email is a monitored, shared address, not one person's personal inbox.
Check each of the following carefully:
If anything has changed during the year, such as a new director or a share transfer, it should already have been notified to ASIC within the required timeframe. The annual review is the safety net, not a substitute for those notifications. Changes are generally due within 28 days.
An Australian proprietary company must have at least one director who ordinarily lives in Australia. This is a standing requirement all year, not only at review time. Indian-owned companies sometimes fall out of compliance when the Australia-based director resigns or relocates. If that has happened, appoint a replacement and notify ASIC before the review date.
Pay the invoice within two months of your review date. Payment is possible by card or BPAY, which can be awkward from India. If your finance team is in India, check that your international card works for Australian government payments, or arrange for your Australian agent or accountant to pay on your behalf.
Directors are expected to confirm the company can pay its debts as and when they fall due. Keep a record of the board's solvency consideration for each review period with your corporate records. You do not lodge it with ASIC, but it protects directors if solvency is later questioned.
Small proprietary companies are generally exempt from lodging financial reports with ASIC. But a small proprietary company that is foreign-controlled may not be exempt, depending on its circumstances. Indian-owned subsidiaries should check this each year rather than assume the exemption applies. Large proprietary companies must lodge reports in any case.
Your Australian entity's compliance does not end at ASIC. Indian parent companies that have made overseas investment generally have their own annual reporting to the Reserve Bank of India, such as the Foreign Liabilities and Assets return and annual performance reporting for overseas direct investment. These depend on your investment structure, so confirm the requirements with your Indian chartered accountant, and keep the Australian figures consistent with what you report in India.
The ATO runs on a separate timetable. ASIC compliance and tax compliance are independent, and meeting one does not meet the other.
If you do not pay on time:
If a company is deregistered, reinstating it takes time and money, and any property it holds can vest in ASIC in the meantime. For an Indian business with Australian customers, contracts, or a bank account, that disruption is far more costly than the review fee.
If you no longer need the company at all, consider formally closing it instead. Voluntary deregistration (Form 6010) costs $52, and you cannot do it while the company has outstanding debts or ongoing business.
Book a free compliance check: https://cal.com/corparray/free-compliance-consultation
Your review date is the anniversary of your company's registration. You have two months from that date to pay without a late fee.
Yes. The review can be completed online from anywhere. The practical issues are payment methods and making sure the statement actually reaches you, so many Indian-owned companies use an Australian-based corporate service provider.
No. The ASIC annual review is a corporate registry obligation. Tax returns are lodged separately with the ATO.
The ASIC annual review is simple when the right person gets the notice, the details are up to date, and payment is organised in advance. For Australia-India businesses, the difficulty is rarely the form itself. It is the distance between the people who must act and the registry that sends the notice. If you want certainty that nothing slips through, book a free compliance check with CorpArray and we will review your ASIC position, flag any gaps before they cost you, and set up reminders so your next review date is never a surprise.
CorpArray specialises in Australia-India corporate compliance. Fixed fees, no surprises.
Book a Free 30-Minute Call