Relation-Back Day and Voidable Transaction Periods

How to Find the Relation-Back Day

Match the appointment history to section 91 of the Corporations Act. Section 9 points to that definition. Sections 513A to 513C determine when winding up begins and the earlier administration day used by the table.

An earlier winding-up application can change the administration or deed result. Section 91 distinguishes applications filed before administration from those filed during it. Withdrawal or dismissal also affects which item applies. Restructuring and an earlier winding up have separate rules in sections 91 and 513C.

Record the application filing evidence and the appointment documents alongside the selected section 91 item. Keep the relation-back date separate from the winding-up commencement date. Both can affect the review period.

Counting Each Look-Back Period

Count each look-back period from the relation-back day using the transaction category in section 588FE. The main windows are as follows.

These windows concern entry into the transaction or an act giving effect to it. Some provisions also cover the interval after the relation-back day. Unfair loans have no fixed look-back limit under section 588FE(6). A creditor-defeating disposition has separate timing rules under section 588FE(6B).

Being inside a window establishes timing only. The relevant voidable transaction requirements still decide whether a claim succeeds.

In a fictional court liquidation, the winding-up order follows the application by eight weeks. A creditor receives one payment five calendar months before the application and another seven calendar months before it. The first falls inside the six-month window. The second falls outside that window, although another claim category can have a longer period.

For a solicitor checking a preference demand, use the application as the reference event in that example. Using the later order would wrongly move the five-month payment outside the window. The unfair preference claims guide explains the payment assessment beyond timing.

Prepare a separate start and end field for each relevant window. Count calendar months and years, accounting for different month lengths and leap years. Request the statement containing the start boundary, even if its opening balance comes from an earlier period.

The Bankruptcy Equivalent

Personal bankruptcy uses the Bankruptcy Act 1966, with commencement determined by section 115. Its timing rules differ from company liquidation.

On a creditor’s petition, commencement usually relates back to the earliest act of bankruptcy within six months before presentation of the petition. A debtor’s petition has a separate table. It accounts for pending creditor petitions, earlier acts of bankruptcy and court directions. Without a pending creditor’s petition or an earlier act in the specified period, commencement is the time the debtor’s petition was presented.

The claim provision decides which reference event controls its period. Section 120’s undervalued-transfer period starts five years before commencement and ends on the date of bankruptcy. Section 122 generally starts the preference period six months before petition presentation. Its pending-creditor-petition case instead starts at commencement.

Keep petition presentation, commencement and the date of bankruptcy in separate fields. Copying the company’s relation-back period into a personal bankruptcy matter produces the wrong request.

Scoping Statements to the Right Period

Request statements from before the longest relevant look-back period through the applicable end point, with every account covered continuously. The earlier records establish opening balances and show the lead-in to a payment. Extend the request when a transfer needs tracing to another account or an earlier record supplies its context.

Start with the claim categories supported by the matter. A six-month preference inquiry and a ten-year creditor-defeat inquiry need different bundles. Tie each request to the selected window and the transaction dates being investigated. The liquidator’s investigation process explains how those inquiries fit the wider appointment.

A missing statement near the start boundary can prevent proof of when a payment occurred. A later balance or ledger description alone might not establish the missing transaction’s timing. Record each missing account period and request the underlying statement before treating the review as complete.

FinTrace saves insolvency practitioners and forensic accountants hours of statement review by turning supplied PDFs into a searchable ledger and a readable findings report. The report identifies gaps across the supplied accounts, so you can see which periods still need records. Professionals can filter transactions by the relevant window and open the source evidence behind a finding.

For each disputed payment, retain its source statement beside the recorded relation-back day and the provision defining its window. That gives you the evidence needed to assess the demand’s timing before addressing the remaining claim requirements.