ASIC Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy (Consequential Amendments) Act 2017

The ASIC Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy (Consequential Amendments) Act 2017 is a supporting Act. Its stated purpose is to deal with consequential matters relating to the enactment of the ASIC Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy Act 2017, and for related purposes. In practical terms, it does not stand alone as the main charging law. Instead, it amends other Acts so the levy framework can operate across existing ASIC-regulated settings.

The Schedule amends the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001, the Corporations Act 2001, the Corporations (Fees) Act 2001 and the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009. Those amendments do three main things. First, they recognise the levy legislation within the ASIC Act. Second, they add transparency reporting by ASIC. Third, and most importantly for many businesses, they connect long-outstanding levy non-payment to consequences under other laws that affect company registration, licences, auditor registration and credit regulation.

If your business receives an ASIC levy notice, this Act is relevant because it shows that levy liability can interact with your broader regulatory status. A missed payment may not stay confined to finance or accounts. Depending on the entity and the regime, it can become a company, licensing or registration issue.

This Act is most relevant to businesses and professionals in ASIC-regulated sectors that are leviable entities for a financial year. The important qualification is that this Act does not itself give a complete practical definition of who is in or out of the levy regime. The annual dashboard provision says that leviable entity, regulatory costs, sector and sub-sector have the same meanings as in the ASIC Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy Act 2017. That means businesses should not rely on this Act alone to decide whether they owe levy.

From the amendments themselves, the consequences framework clearly touches companies, certain licensees, some partnerships, some single legal entity arrangements, registered auditors, companies in relation to auditor-related provisions, and persons regulated under Schedule 2 to the Corporations Act. Credit licensees are also expressly captured through amendments to the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009.

In practice, if you hold an Australian financial services licence, a credit licence, an auditor registration, or another ASIC-regulated status, you should check whether your entity is treated as a leviable entity for the relevant financial year under the separate levy Act. If you operate through a group, trust, partnership or special purpose vehicle, do not assume the trading brand and the liable legal entity are the same thing. The amended provisions focus on the entity or person liable to pay the levy.

The Act inserts a transparency requirement into the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001. As soon as practicable after 31 October in each year, ASIC must publish on its website specified information for the financial year ending on 30 June in that year. This applies in respect of the financial year that ends after the commencement of the ASIC Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy Act 2017, and later financial years.

The report must include ASIC's total regulatory costs in relation to leviable entities. It must then apportion those total regulatory costs on the basis of sector and sub-sector. It must also apportion sector costs by different kinds of activities undertaken by ASIC in the financial year, and by different kinds of expenses incurred by ASIC in the financial year. Regulations may require other information as well.

For businesses, this dashboard is useful because it gives visibility into how ASIC attributes regulatory costs across sectors. It does not tell you by itself whether your business owes levy or how much you owe, but it can help with budgeting, understanding sector treatment and checking how the cost recovery model is being presented publicly.

The most important business-facing feature of this Act is the repeated non-payment trigger inserted across several laws. The recurring pattern is that a person or entity is liable to pay levy under the ASIC Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy Act 2017 and has not paid in full, at least 12 months after the due date for payment, the levy amount, any late payment penalty and any shortfall penalty. This 12-month non-payment trigger is not a one-off drafting choice. It appears across multiple amended provisions and is a central feature of how the consequences framework operates.

That repeated trigger matters because businesses sometimes focus only on the original levy amount. The amended provisions make clear that related penalty amounts matter too. If levy is unpaid, but a late payment penalty or shortfall penalty also remains unpaid, the consequences framework can still be engaged. In other words, the compliance risk is tied to the full levy-related liability, not just the base amount.

The consequences differ depending on the legal regime. Under the Corporations Act amendments, ASIC may decide to deregister a company if the company is liable to pay levy and the levy, late payment penalty and shortfall penalty have not been paid in full at least 12 months after the due date. Other amendments add levy-related non-payment grounds into provisions dealing with licensees and regulated persons. The Act also inserts a specific immediate suspension or cancellation power for auditor registration where the same kind of long-outstanding non-payment exists.

For business owners, directors and compliance managers, the practical message is simple: do not let levy-related amounts sit unresolved. Once the issue has aged, it can move from a payment problem to a regulatory status problem.

The company deregistration amendment is one of the clearest examples of how this Act works. A new subsection is inserted into the Corporations Act allowing ASIC to decide to deregister a company if the company is liable to pay levy imposed by the ASIC Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy Act 2017 and has not paid in full, at least 12 months after the due date, the levy, any late payment penalty and any shortfall penalty.

The Act also adds a reinstatement pathway for a company deregistered under that levy-related power. ASIC may reinstate the registration of the company if ASIC receives an application for reinstatement and the levy, any late payment penalty and any shortfall penalty are paid in full. If an application was made, ASIC must give notice of the reinstatement to the applicant.

For registered auditors, the Act inserts a new section allowing ASIC to cancel or suspend a person's registration as an auditor if the person is liable to pay levy and the levy, any late payment penalty and any shortfall penalty have not been paid in full at least 12 months after the due date. The Act also sets out notice mechanics. ASIC must, within 10 business days after making the decision, give written notice setting out the decision and the reasons. The decision comes into effect on the day after the notice is given. The Act also says that a failure to give the notice within 10 business days does not affect the validity of the decision. ASIC may vary or revoke a suspension by written notice.

These provisions show that levy compliance can directly affect the legal ability to continue operating in a regulated role. If your business depends on a company remaining registered or on an individual maintaining auditor registration, levy-related debts should be treated as urgent compliance matters.

The Act does not confine levy consequences to companies and auditors. It also amends a number of Corporations Act provisions dealing with licensees and regulated persons. The text adds levy-related non-payment grounds to provisions including sections 797B, 826B and 905H, and to several parts of section 915B. Those amendments cover different licensing contexts, including cases involving a licensee that is a leviable entity, a partnership that is a leviable entity, and a licensee that is a single legal entity under section 761FA and also a leviable entity.

The same pattern appears again in relation to credit regulation. The Act amends subsection 54(1) of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 to add levy-related non-payment as a ground in the case of a licensee that is a leviable entity. It also amends provisions in Schedule 2 to the Corporations Act dealing with persons who are leviable entities.

The practical point is that the Act reaches across several ASIC-administered regimes. If your business holds a licence or registration under one of those regimes, you should not assume levy issues are dealt with somewhere else. The amendments are designed to make levy compliance relevant inside the licensing and registration framework itself.

The Schedule also amends the Corporations (Fees) Act 2001. The text repeals paragraphs (m) and (n) of the definition of chargeable matter in subsection 4(1), repeals subsection 6(6), repeals section 6A, and makes related consequential changes to sections 5, 7 and 8. This indicates a shift in the surrounding charging framework so that the older fees settings align with the newer levy system.

Importantly, the Act also contains an application provision preserving the old provisions and any instruments in force under those provisions immediately before commencement for certain ASIC functions performed before commencement. The preserved functions are those performed in relation to operators of a licensed market under Part 7.2A of the Corporations Act 2001 before commencement, and functions performed in relation to participants in a licensed market under Part 7.2A before commencement.

For many small and medium businesses, this transitional rule will not be the main issue. But it can matter if you are reviewing historical ASIC charges, disputing an older amount, or dealing with legacy market operator or market participant matters. In those situations, do not assume every historical ASIC amount is governed by the current levy framework.

The safest way to use this Act is to separate three questions. First, are we a leviable entity for the relevant financial year? Second, what levy and related amounts are payable? Third, what happens if those amounts are not paid? This Act mainly answers the third question by linking long-outstanding non-payment to consequences under other laws. The first two questions usually require checking the separate levy legislation and the business's own legal structure and regulatory status.

For many businesses, the operational risk comes from internal fragmentation. Finance may receive the notice, but legal or compliance may not realise that the same entity holds a licence or registration affected by the amended provisions. A simple internal register can help. Record each ASIC levy notice, the liable entity, the due date, any late payment penalty, any shortfall penalty, and the licences or registrations held by that entity. Escalate unresolved amounts early rather than waiting for a renewal, audit or ASIC contact.

If there is a genuine dispute about whether your entity is leviable, or about the amount payable, get advice early. The repeated 12-month trigger across the amended laws means delay can increase the regulatory risk. This is especially important where the business depends on a company remaining registered, a licence remaining in force, or an auditor registration being maintained.