ASIC is urging business owners to renew their business name or risk it being cancelled.
The reminder comes after ASIC cancelled more than 95,000 business names in the first half of 2015 after business name holders failed to pay their renewal notice.
ASIC Commissioner Greg Tanzer said, ‘Renewing is a simple process and we encourage business owners to go online where they will find guidance on business name renewal fees, what the renewal period options are, how you will be notified of an upcoming renewal as well as an outline of what happens after you have renewed.’
A registered business name can be renewed with ASIC for either one or three years.
Since ASIC took over the Business Names Register in 2012, Australian businesses have saved $120.7 million in reduced fees to register and renew a business name.
Mr Tanzer added, ‘ASIC’s role includes ensuring that small businesses understand what is expected of them and providing them with tools to make that understanding easier to obtain.’
Business name holders can check the next renewal date by searching their business name on ASIC Connect Search.
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Fact Sheet - business name registration
On 28 May 2012, ASIC launched a new national Business Names Register.
The national Business Names Register delivers a single national registration with free online searches. Since it commenced, over half a million new names have been registered, taking the total number of registered business names in Australia to over 2.1 million.
Business owners can search, register, transfer, update, cancel or renew a business name, all in one online service – at any time.
Australian businesses have saved $120.7 million in reduced fees to register and renew a business name since ASIC took over the Business Names Register in 2012.
In the 2014-15 year:
- Over 320,000 new business names were registered, with 96% registered by the next business day;
- 30% of business name registration applications were submitted outside of standard business hours;
- Over 360,000 registered business names were renewed – for either 1 or 3 years;
- Over 171,000 business names were cancelled, with more than 95,000 of the cancellations occurring due to non-payment of business names renewal fees;
- There were over 27.7 million searches of the business names register; and
- Australian businesses saved $41.4 million in reduced fees to register and renew a business name.