Strike-Off Action in Progress: ASIC Response Options

What Strike-Off Action in Progress Means

The status marks a proposed administrative deregistration, so it leaves time to establish whether the action can be stopped. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) records the proposal before completing deregistration.

Keep the stages separate. A proposed strike-off leaves the company registered. Completed deregistration ends its legal existence. A liquidator’s appointment starts a different process for administering company affairs and does not follow automatically from a strike-off proposal.

Match the legal name and Australian Company Number (ACN) across the company record, ASIC correspondence and published notice. An unpaid invoice establishes neither the debtor’s current status nor its identity. A trading name can conceal a mismatch between the company you contracted with and the record you are reading.

Use the ASIC company search evidence already collected for the matter. Preserve the status record and the matching notice from ASIC’s Published Notices website. An old notice alone cannot establish that the proposal remains active.

Establish Why ASIC Started the Action

Read the stated ground in ASIC’s letter and supporting records before deciding whether payment or a substantive response addresses it. Section 601AB of the Corporations Act 2001 provides several grounds for ASIC-initiated deregistration.

An annual review fee unpaid in full for at least 12 months after its due date is one ground. The inactivity ground combines a late response to a return of particulars with an absence of other lodgements and no reason to believe the company trades. Other grounds concern unpaid statutory levies, certain winding-up circumstances and materially false or misleading information.

Reconcile the notice against payment receipts and the lodgement history. Where ASIC alleges inactivity, collect evidence of actual business activity and the outstanding return. Paying a review fee will not necessarily answer a proposal founded on a different ground.

Voluntary Deregistration Has Separate Conditions

Voluntary deregistration is a company-initiated application under section 601AA. It requires all members to agree and the company to have stopped carrying on business. Assets must be worth less than $1,000, all ASIC fees and penalties must be paid and there must be no outstanding liabilities or legal proceedings.

Check each condition against records, including unpaid wages, tax obligations and money owed to the company. Remaining property needs lawful attention before deregistration. A low application cost does not make voluntary deregistration available to a company with unpaid creditors.

An eligible applicant uses ASIC’s official Form 6010 process. Retain the application and confirmation, then verify publication of the proposal and the eventual register entry. ASIC’s voluntary deregistration guidance explains the application and conditions. Treat an application as a request until the register confirms completion.

Check the Company’s Debts, Assets and Proceedings

Build a source-linked financial schedule before recommending closure or deciding whether a creditor must intervene. Separate what the company owes from what it owns, including claims against other people.

Record	Evidence to preserve	Question for the response
Bank balances	Statements showing account holder, balance and covered period	Does money remain in the company’s name?
Receivables	Contracts, invoices and debtor correspondence	Is a collectible debt or disputed claim still an asset?
Liabilities	Creditor ledger, employee records and tax statements	Which debts remain unpaid or contested?
Security	Security agreements, relevant register results and property records	Who has an interest in the identified property?
Proceedings	Filed documents, orders and the next procedural deadline	Does the company need to remain registered to pursue or defend the matter?

Give each amount a source reference and distinguish a confirmed balance from an estimate. A stale bank balance needs reconciliation against later transactions. Preserve disputed debts as disputed instead of silently removing them from the schedule.

For example, a hypothetical company has $700 in its bank account and an unpaid supplier invoice of $8,000. Its small cash balance does not satisfy the separate requirement to have no outstanding liabilities. The creditor also needs evidence of the debt and the proposed proceedings when requesting deferral.

Where statements span many accounts, FinTrace saves insolvency practitioners and forensic accountants hours of manual statement review. The service produces a searchable ledger and flags suspicious transactions, with findings linked to the source PDF filename and page. That evidence helps the practitioner assemble the financial schedule while retaining time for interpretation.

If debts or property still require administration, assess liquidation against the company’s actual position. Deregistration ends the entity without supplying a liquidator to investigate and administer those affairs.

Respond or Object Before Deregistration

Act before the notice period expires and obtain a recorded decision about any requested deferral. Under section 601AB, ASIC may deregister after two months have passed since publication of the notice.

1. Match the notice to the company’s ACN. Record publication and calculate the response window from that notice, not from when the creditor discovered it.
2. Identify who is responding. A company addresses the recorded ground. A creditor or other third party explains its interest and why deregistration must be deferred or stopped.
3. Select the response that fits. Pay outstanding fees where that answers the ground, lodge required information through its prescribed process or submit a supported deferral request.
4. Use the contact route in ASIC’s deregistration guidance. Include the company name and ACN, reasons, supporting evidence and your postal address.
5. Keep the submission receipt and obtain ASIC’s response. Verify the scope and expiry of any deferral, then check the register again.

ASIC allows a creditor or other third party to request an initial 30-day deferral. During that period, a further deferral or stop request must address proceedings already started or planned. Attach the debt documents and explain the proposed legal action, or provide filed documents if proceedings are underway.

A fee receipt proves payment. A lodgement receipt proves submission. Neither alone establishes that ASIC has stopped deregistration. If time is short, follow up through ASIC’s contact service with the notice and request reference available.

Identify the Consequences of Completed Deregistration

Completed deregistration ends the company’s existence under section 601AD. Its non-trust property vests in ASIC, while property held on trust vests in the Commonwealth. Existing security interests and claims on that property remain relevant.

Former directors cannot continue disposing of company property as if the company still existed. Identify the property and the person or authority with power to deal with it before seeking a transfer or recovery.

A creditor generally needs reinstatement before suing the deregistered company or continuing proceedings against it. ASIC’s guidance on legal proceedings explains the position. ASIC does not automatically conduct litigation for the former company merely because property has vested in it.

Distinguish the underlying cause of action from the company’s present capacity to participate in proceedings. A valid debt claim still needs the correct defendant and procedural route. Also assess limitation issues and any direct insurer claim under section 601AG separately.

Deregistration does not itself release a guarantor or extinguish another person’s independently established liability. Director liability for company debts needs its own legal basis. The ATO’s deregistered-company guidance identifies possible continuing director penalties for relevant withholding, GST and superannuation guarantee charge obligations.

Assess Reinstatement and Preserve the Claim File

Choose a reinstatement route by the applicant’s standing and the reason for deregistration. Reinstatement restores the existing company. Registering a new company with a similar name does not restore the former entity’s rights or liabilities.

ASIC can administratively reinstate under section 601AH where it is satisfied the company should not have been deregistered. Separate statutory routes address specified levy defaults. A court can order reinstatement on an application by an aggrieved person or former liquidator where reinstatement is just.

Prepare an Administrative Application

1. Establish eligibility under ASIC’s reinstatement criteria. Identify the procedural error, incorrect voluntary declaration or other available ground and the applicant’s relationship to the company.
2. Preserve the register history, notices and proof supporting that ground. Include transaction sources, debt schedules, correspondence and any proceedings that began before deregistration.
3. Follow ASIC’s administrative reinstatement process. Former officeholders or members request a detailed fee estimate and complete Form 581 with the required signature and evidence.
4. Pay the required fees and lodge Form 581 through ASIC’s stated email or postal channel. Retain the decision and verify the restored register entry.

A creditor must establish its eligibility for administrative reinstatement. The existence of an unpaid invoice alone does not guarantee ASIC will grant that route. ASIC’s reinstatement eligibility guidance distinguishes administrative and court applications.

Prepare a Court Application

1. Identify the appropriate superior court and applicable filing rules. Explain why the applicant is aggrieved or is the former liquidator, and why reinstatement is just.
2. Prepare the application and supporting evidence against ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 83 requirements. Address the company’s history, proposed purpose and relevant directors or former liquidator.
3. File and serve as required. ASIC’s court reinstatement procedure asks for the application and supporting documents at least 28 days before the hearing.
4. If successful, send ASIC the sealed order and Form 105 through its prescribed process. Retain the order and verify reinstatement before relying on the company’s restored status.

Section 601AH treats a reinstated company as continuing in existence as if it had not been deregistered. Property still vested in ASIC or the Commonwealth revests in the company. Additional court orders can be needed for acts during the deregistration period, so identify those acts in the application evidence.

Verify the Outcome Against the Register

Close the response task only when the official record and decision support the next step. Preserve the latest status alongside the objection acknowledgement, deferral decision or reinstatement order.

If strike-off remains in progress, confirm whether ASIC has received the request and whether a deferral actually covers the proposed next step. Published notices remain visible even after an action stops, so compare the notice with the current register and ASIC’s response.

If deregistration has completed, move from a pre-deregistration objection to the appropriate reinstatement or property-recovery assessment. Keep unresolved assets and proceedings on the matter’s action list. An unanswered enquiry gives no confirmation that deregistration has been deferred.