Key Documents
Business registers are a key component of Australia’s economic infrastructure. The Government is modernising these business registers to enable businesses, and other users, to manage their registrations and registry obligations in one place. This will make it easier for business to fulfil regulatory responsibilities and streamline interactions with government.
As part of this modernisation, the Government has been considering how registry fees will apply in the new system being delivered through the Modernising Business Registers (MBR) program. The MBR program is being implemented in stages through to 2024.
Treasury has been consulting broadly on business registers since 2017 and released a discussion paper focused on registry fees in 2018. Given changes to the broader business environment and the continued maturation of the MBR program, the Government is seeking further views on the role and design of aspects of the registry fee regime. Any changes to the fee regime will consider stakeholder feedback received through both rounds of consultation.
The scope for this consultation is the fees associated with the business registers. This includes registration, review, and renewal fees, search fees, infrastructure fees, late fees and lifecycle fees. ASIC regulatory fees and charges, including those under Industry Funding Model, are outside of scope. Possible fees for Director Identification Numbers, Australian Business Numbers or for sub‑funds attached to a Corporate Collective Investment Vehicle are also out of scope of this paper.