Beware of Misleading ASIC Renewal Notices

ASIC has recently issued a warning about a long-running practice targeting Australian businesses with misleading unsolicited invoices for business name renewals and company annual reviews.

Unsolicited business name renewal and company review notices | ASIC

We have fielded a number of queries from clients recently on these notices.

These letters and emails often look very similar to genuine government correspondence, however they are issued by private businesses that charge significant fees to process registrations or renewals that can be completed directly with ASIC (or, in many cases, are already managed by your registered ASIC agent).

While these notices are not necessarily fraudulent, they can easily be mistaken for official ASIC invoices.

How the notices work

The businesses issuing these notices obtain renewal information from publicly available registers and contact businesses before ASIC would normally issue its own renewal notice.

The documents are designed to encourage prompt payment by:

• closely resembling official government correspondence;
• using urgent wording and short payment timeframes;
• bundling their own service fee into the amount payable, often without clearly identifying the additional charge; and
• offering "early payment" discounts to create a false sense of urgency.

Why it matters

If you pay one of these third-party notices, you may be paying substantially more than the actual ASIC fee for a service you don't need.

More importantly, it can also create unnecessary administrative issues. Where Baumgartners is your registered ASIC agent, payments made through third parties can interfere with our agency appointment and registry access. This often requires additional work to restore the correct arrangements and ensure your ASIC records remain properly managed.

What should you do?

If you receive any correspondence relating to an ASIC annual review or business name renewal:

• Don't pay it immediately.
• Forward a copy to your Baumgartners adviser before taking any action. We will confirm whether the notice is genuine and advise whether any payment is required.
• Check the sender. Genuine ASIC emails will only come from an @asic.gov.au email address.
• Remember that if Baumgartners is your registered ASIC agent, legitimate annual review documents and statutory notices are generally sent directly to us, not to you.

‍We're here to help

If you're ever unsure whether a notice you've received is genuine, please contact your Baumgartners adviser before making payment.

A quick email or phone call can save unnecessary expense and ensure your ASIC obligations continue to be managed correctly.