XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online
Country Restriction: Australia only
Risk Type: Compliance Risk
Business Function: Compliance
Overview
The "ASIC Renewal due or not paid" XBert spots when an Australian company's yearly ASIC annual review fee looks like it is due but cannot be found as paid in your books. ASIC charges a late fee when the review fee is paid after its due date, so this XBert gives you a timely nudge to check and pay before any penalty applies.
What it does
XBert looks up your business in the Australian Business Register (ABR) to find when the company was registered. That registration date sets the company's review anniversary each year, and the ASIC annual review fee falls due two months after it. As that due date approaches, XBert scans your accounting records for a matching payment to ASIC and compares what it finds against what it expects to see.
How it works
The XBert only looks at active Australian companies and self-managed super funds, because they are the entities ASIC charges an annual review fee. Here is when it raises the alert and what it deliberately ignores:
It works out your review anniversary (the month and day you registered) and adds two months to get the ASIC due date.
It only checks around that due date, from one week before to two weeks after. Outside that short window it stays quiet.
It searches your books for a fee paid to ASIC from about a month before your review anniversary up to the due date. This deliberately looks back well before the due date, because the fee is often paid early.
It recognises an ASIC payment either when it is made to a contact carrying ASIC's official ABN, or when the transaction reference mentions ASIC.
If a matching payment is found in that window, no alert is raised. The alert only fires when the due date is near and no ASIC fee payment can be found.
Example/Use Case
Priya runs a small private company that registered on 22 January, so its ASIC annual review fee falls due on 22 March. Each year ASIC issues a renewal notice for the $329 review fee. This year the invoice was approved, but the bank payment was coded to a general "Government" contact with no ABN and no mention of ASIC in the reference. As the due date nears, XBert cannot match any ASIC fee payment and raises the alert. Priya's bookkeeper checks, confirms the fee was actually paid on time, and simply re-codes the payment to the correct ASIC contact. Had the fee genuinely been missed, the early warning would have let them pay it before ASIC's late fee (which ranges from roughly $96 up to $401) applied.
Accounting software
This XBert works with all major Australian-compatible accounting software, including Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online. It reads the bills and payments recorded in your ledger regardless of which platform you use.
Which countries it supports
Australia only. It applies to companies and self-managed super funds registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Processes
This XBert supports your annual compliance monitoring. To resolve it:
Check whether the ASIC annual review fee has already been paid, for example through a bank feed, a bill payment or a batch payment.
If the fee was paid, make sure the payment is recorded against the correct ASIC contact (carrying ASIC's ABN) or that the reference clearly mentions ASIC, so the payment can be matched.
If the fee is still outstanding, pay the annual review fee through ASIC and record the payment in your accounting software with a clear ASIC reference.
To confirm renewal notices, due dates or fee amounts, search your company on the ASIC Registry.
Once you have verified the payment or recorded it correctly, mark the XBert as resolved.