What does it mean for regulated businesses?
Passing on compliance costs to regulated Australian businesses – such as financial advisors, other professional service providers and some proprietary companies – now means that these organisations will be charged an annual levy payable to ASIC. Depending on the industry, the levy can be a flat fee, based on variable factors (such as the number of transactions), or both. The total amount of the levy could be a few hundred dollars up to hundreds of thousands of dollars for large listed corporations.
In most cases, regulated entities are required to report business activity metrics by late September each year to determine what they owe. This can be done on ASIC’s online portal. Invoices are issued in January for the levy amounts payable for the previous financial year.
Which businesses are required to pay a levy?
Businesses in subsectors regulated by ASIC are required to pay a levy. A few examples include:
- ACL/AFSL licensees
- Market infrastructure/intermediary providers
- Responsible entities (i.e. operate a registered management investment scheme)
- Registered liquidators
- Australian proprietary companies meeting at least two of the following criteria:
1. Consolidated revenue of over $25 million
2. Consolidated gross assets of over $12.5 million
3. More than 50 employees.
Here’s a summary of the 2017-2018 levy amounts and the types of businesses they apply to. According to ASIC, invoices were sent to around 47,000 firms in January 2019.
How you can help your clients meet their obligations with Moula
Since the ASIC levies are new in 2019, many businesses have not budgeted to pay them, especially in January when cash flow is low. If payment is not made by the due date, a business could be required to pay interest and penalties. Moula offers unsecured business loans – from $5,000 to $250,000 with 6 to 36-month terms – that can be used to pay levy amounts owed to ASIC.
Moula has simplified the process of accessing unsecured business finance, eliminating messy paperwork and saving time. By using bank and accounting data, a lending decision is made within 24 hours. Once approved, the funds are transferred to your client’s bank account within one business day.
