Deregistered companies

Deregistration of a company is when a company ceases to exist.

The company can no longer take actions (this includes the fact that a deregistered company can no longer act as a trustee).

Officeholders can no longer act for the company, ASIC can.

Company funds vest in (go to) ASIC.

Debt is not part of company funds.

If an account has a debit balance, the account may not be closed until ANZ has undertaken collections or enforcement action in relation to the amount owed to ANZ.

A company may also be voluntarily deregistered (following an application by the company, any of its directors or shareholders or a liquidator) if that company has less than $1000 in assets and no outstanding liabilities.

ASIC may also decide to deregister a company in certain circumstances.

This isn’t a complete outline. More information on deregistration can be located on ASIC’s website here.

If your company has been deregistered, ASIC tells banks how to deal with deregistered company accounts.

Depending on the situation, ANZ may freeze or close identified accounts that are held in the name of the company and officeholders may no longer have access to the account(s).

Once the ASIC process of reinstatement is complete, access to company accounts can be enabled.

ASIC requires ANZ and other banks to remit company funds (if any) to them. If funds have been remitted to ASIC before the reinstatement of the company, please contact ASIC or your advisers for next steps. 

If the company has not re-registered with ASIC, ANZ may take one or more of the following actions depending on the circumstances:

• Take (or continue) enforcement action in respect of debt;
• Remit company funds to ASIC (subject to any security arrangements or other rights to those funds that relate to debt); and
• Close deregistered company accounts (as the company no longer exists, it’s in ANZ’s legitimate interests to do so).

More information on deregistered company bank accounts can be found on ASIC’s website here

Once funds that have been remitted to ASIC on behalf of the deregistered company, these funds can then be found on ASIC’s MoneySmart website and may be claimed by the rightful owner by contacting ASIC.  ASIC may require the company to be reinstated before the funds can be claimed.

Information on how to do this can be found on the MoneySmart website here.

If you seek to re-register the company, please consult with your advisers and contact ASIC to re-register the company. Re-registration is an ASIC function and is not something that ANZ can do. 

Information on how to reinstate a company can be located on ASIC’s website here.

To advise ANZ of the re-registration, please provide any relevant information and contact us at DCAenquiries@anz.com with the following details:

1. Company representative name:
2. Name of Company:
3. Date Re-registered:
4. Account Number (if applicable):
5. Contact Details: Email/Phone Number:

Different people can apply to ASIC for reinstatement (for example, other officeholders and creditors). Therefore ASIC has instructed banks to allow up to 60 days for reinstatement, and ANZ will generally wait this time.  

If the company hasn’t been reinstated within 60 days from the date of notification of restrictions being applied to the account(s), the account(s) will be closed as soon as is practical and ANZ intends to send credit balances (if any) to ASIC's Unclaimed Monies Unit.

To apply for hardship assistance, we’ll need income and expense information from you. For more information on the process please see Financial Hardship.

If you believe that some or all of the funds in the account do not belong to the de-registered company, please contact us by sending an email to DCAEnquiries@anz.com. When you contact us, you will need to specify who you believe the funds belong to and provide evidence of ownership.

This may include a Statutory Declaration and other documents showing who was supposed to receive the funds (for example, invoices that relate to deposits).