How to Deregister a Company in Australia (2026): Criteria, Form 6010, ATO Steps and Reinstatement

Closing a company you no longer need is cheap and mostly paperwork — but only if you do things in the right order. This guide is for owners of small proprietary companies that have stopped trading, sold their business or never really started, and for directors who want to stop paying ASIC's annual review fee. It explains the six conditions for voluntary deregistration, the Form 6010 application and its 2026 fee, what the ATO expects before you apply, what happens to anything left in the company, how reinstatement works, and when you need a liquidator instead.

Quick answer

A solvent company that has stopped trading can usually be closed by voluntary deregistration: lodge Form 6010 with ASIC and pay A$52. All members must agree, the company must have stopped business, hold assets worth less than A$1,000, have no liabilities or legal proceedings, and owe ASIC nothing. ASIC publishes a notice and can deregister the company 2 months later.

• Finish the tax side first: final returns, BAS, super and STP, all debts paid

• Distribute or sell assets first — leftovers vest in ASIC

• Apply at least two weeks before the next annual review fee is due

• Doesn't qualify? A members' voluntary liquidation is the solvent alternative

• Directors keep the books for 3 years afterwards

What deregistration means

Deregistration ends the company's existence as a legal person. Once ASIC removes it from the register, the company can't trade, sign contracts, sue or be sued in its own name. Its ACN stays on the register marked "Deregistered", its ABN and tax registrations are cancelled, and any business names registered to it are cancelled too.

There are three routes to the same end point:

• Voluntary deregistration — you apply to ASIC under section 601AA of the Corporations Act. It's the cheap route for a company that has wound down its affairs and has almost nothing left.
• Deregistration after a winding up — a liquidator winds the company up, either in a members' voluntary liquidation (solvent) or a creditors' or court liquidation (insolvent), and the company is deregistered at the end.
• ASIC-initiated deregistration — ASIC strikes the company off, most often because its review fee is at least 12 months overdue. This happens to many abandoned companies, but it's not a clean exit for directors.

Three ways a company comes off the register

Point	Voluntary deregistration	Members' voluntary liquidation	ASIC-initiated (strike-off)
Who starts it	Company, director, member or liquidator	Directors and members appoint a liquidator	ASIC
Company must be	Solvent, assets under A$1,000, no liabilities	Solvent — debts paid within 12 months	Usually ignoring ASIC fees
ASIC fee	A$52	Lodgement and notice fees	None, but fees stay unpaid
Other cost	Your accountant, if used	Liquidator's fees	Leftover assets lost to ASIC
Typical time	2 months after ASIC's notice	Months; deregistered 3 months after final return	2 months after ASIC's notice
Best for	Dormant or wound-down small companies	Companies with assets or debts to deal with	Not recommended

Who starts it

Voluntary deregistration

Company, director, member or liquidator

Members' voluntary liquidation

Directors and members appoint a liquidator

ASIC-initiated (strike-off)

ASIC

Company must be

Voluntary deregistration

Solvent, assets under A$1,000, no liabilities

Members' voluntary liquidation

Solvent — debts paid within 12 months

ASIC-initiated (strike-off)

Usually ignoring ASIC fees

ASIC fee

Voluntary deregistration

A$52

Members' voluntary liquidation

Lodgement and notice fees

ASIC-initiated (strike-off)

None, but fees stay unpaid

Other cost

Voluntary deregistration

Your accountant, if used

Members' voluntary liquidation

Liquidator's fees

ASIC-initiated (strike-off)

Leftover assets lost to ASIC

Typical time

Voluntary deregistration

2 months after ASIC's notice

Members' voluntary liquidation

Months; deregistered 3 months after final return

ASIC-initiated (strike-off)

2 months after ASIC's notice

Best for

Voluntary deregistration

Dormant or wound-down small companies

Members' voluntary liquidation

Companies with assets or debts to deal with

ASIC-initiated (strike-off)

Not recommended

Do you qualify for voluntary deregistration?

ASIC and Form 6010 set out six conditions. The person applying declares that all of them are true, and making a false declaration is an offence.

1. All members agree to the deregistration.
2. The company is not carrying on business.
3. The company's assets are worth less than A$1,000.
4. The company has paid all fees and penalties payable to ASIC under the Corporations Act.
5. The company has no outstanding liabilities.
6. The company is not a party to any legal proceedings.

"Outstanding liabilities" is broader than people expect. Form 6010's guide says it includes unpaid employee entitlements — annual leave, long service leave, payment in lieu of notice, redundancy and wages. It also covers tax and super owed to the ATO, money owed to suppliers, and any loan the company owes a director or shareholder. A director loan account in credit is still a liability of the company, so it needs to be repaid, forgiven or otherwise resolved first — with tax advice, because forgiving debts and moving money between a company and its shareholders can have tax consequences.

The asset test catches people too. Cash in the bank, debtors, equipment, stock, a car, a deposit held by a landlord, a tax refund the company is owed — all of these are assets. If the company has more than A$1,000 and can't distribute it lawfully before applying, voluntary deregistration isn't the right route.

If the company is solvent but can't meet the conditions, ASIC points you to winding up a solvent company. If the company can't pay its debts, get advice from a registered liquidator or insolvency lawyer straight away — deregistration is not a way to walk away from creditors.

Before you lodge Form 6010

0/10

• Every member agrees in writing (keep it with the records)
• Trading has stopped and customer contracts are finished
• Assets sold, distributed or written off so less than A$1,000 remains
• Employees paid all wages, leave, notice and redundancy
• Suppliers, lenders and director loans settled
• All tax returns, BAS, FBT and TPAR lodged; tax debts paid
• Super guarantee paid and STP finalised
• No court or tribunal proceedings on foot
• All ASIC fees, late fees and penalties paid
• Any AFS or credit licence cancelled

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Get the tax side finished first

ASIC doesn't ask for an ATO clearance letter. Instead, the declaration on Form 6010 that the company has "no outstanding liabilities" covers tax and super, and the ATO publishes its own list of what must be done before you apply. In short, you need to lodge — and confirm the ATO has processed — every overdue and final form:

• the company's final income tax return (an early return can be lodged electronically through SBR-enabled software)
• final activity statements, including GST on the sale of any assets and adjustments in the period your registrations are cancelled — see our BAS guide
• a final fringe benefits tax return if the company is registered for FBT
• a final taxable payments annual report if the company paid contractors in a reportable industry.

Then pay every debt, including amounts not yet due, finalise super (including any super guarantee charge), and finalise Single Touch Payroll reporting. If the company is a corporate trustee of a super fund or trust, appoint a replacement trustee first. If it belongs to a GST group or an income tax consolidated group, or is a partner in a partnership, sort out those lodgments too.

The ATO also warns about shareholder loans and remaining assets: transactions that aren't reported and documented properly can end up treated as an unfranked deemed dividend in a shareholder's assessable income. Get your accountant to review the last year's movements before the company closes.

Should you cancel the ABN yourself? ASIC deregistration triggers it automatically — after deregistration the ATO cancels the company's ABN and all its tax registrations. Our guide to cancelling an ABN explains when cancelling earlier makes sense, such as cancelling GST registration once trading stops.

How to apply: Form 6010 step by step

The application can be made by the company itself, a director, a member, or a liquidator. If the company is the applicant, it must nominate a person to receive the notice of deregistration.

Voluntary deregistration

1. 1

   Get members' agreement and wind down

   Record every member's agreement, stop trading, pay creditors and distribute or sell the assets.

2. 2

   Finish ATO lodgments and payments

   Final tax return, BAS, FBT, TPAR, super and STP — and confirm the ATO has processed them.

3. 3

   Clear ASIC debts

   Pay any outstanding review fees, late fees and penalties. ASIC won't approve the application while the company owes it money.

4. 4

   Lodge Form 6010 and pay the fee

   Lodge online through the company officeholder portal or registered agent portal, and pay A$52. If you can't lodge online, email or post the PDF form with a payment receipt.

   Tip: Apply at least two weeks before the next annual review fee is due.

   ASIC — Form 6010
5. 5

   ASIC publishes a notice

   If approved, ASIC confirms it will deregister the company and publishes a notice on its Published notices website.

6. 6

   Deregistration

   2 months after the notice, the company may be deregistered and shows as 'Deregistered' on the register.

The fee isn't refunded if the application is rejected, and a fresh application needs a fresh fee. ASIC tells you why it rejected the application — commonly unpaid ASIC fees, or a company that still appears to be trading.

The annual review fee timing rule

Timing matters because the company still owes its A$342 annual review fee while it's registered. According to the Form 6010 guide, if the company's annual review date falls within two calendar months before or after the date ASIC publishes the deregistration notice, you won't have to pay that year's review fee. ASIC's page adds the flip side: if the notice isn't published before the review fee falls due, you'll need to pay the fee before the company can be deregistered. Hence ASIC's advice to apply at least two weeks before the fee is due — and earlier is safer.

Changing your mind or stopping someone else's deregistration

If you've applied and want to stop, contact ASIC and explain why; ASIC reviews the request and responds within 28 days. A creditor or other third party can ask ASIC to defer deregistration for an initial 30 days, and can ask for a longer deferral if they have started, or plan to start, legal proceedings against the company. Notices stay on the Published notices website even if deregistration is stopped.

What happens after deregistration

Anything the company still owns doesn't come back to the shareholders. Company property — other than property it held on trust — vests in ASIC; trust property vests in the Commonwealth, represented by ASIC. Former officeholders lose the right to deal with it, and legal proceedings involving the company can't continue or start.

Bank accounts are the most common casualty. Once a bank learns the company is deregistered, ASIC expects it to freeze the account, give the former owners a reasonable opportunity (ASIC suggests up to 60 days) to reinstate the company, and then close the account and send company money to ASIC as unclaimed money. Close the bank account yourself before you apply.

The ATO stops dealing with the company. It cancels the ABN and registrations, cancels any forms it receives afterwards, and pays any refund the company was entitled to before deregistration to ASIC — not to the shareholders — unless the company is reinstated or a liquidator is entitled to it.

Directors keep some obligations. The directors immediately before deregistration must keep the company's books for 3 years afterwards under section 601AD(5); the tax law separately requires records to be kept for 5 years after the relevant transactions. And the ATO can still pursue former directors personally under the director penalty regime for PAYG withholding, net GST and super guarantee charge the company didn't pay before deregistration.

If you later find property you forgot about, ASIC can be asked to deal with it, for a fee of A$934 from 1 July 2026, or the company can be reinstated.

Reinstatement: bringing a company back

A reinstated company is treated as though it had never been deregistered: its directors become directors again, its property re-vests in it, and it must meet all its obligations from that point.

ASIC (administrative) reinstatement is available in limited cases — where ASIC agrees the company shouldn't have been deregistered, such as a procedural error or an incorrect declaration on Form 6010, or where it was deregistered for unpaid industry levies that have since been paid. Former directors, secretaries or members can apply if they aren't disqualified from managing corporations and can confirm the company will be solvent on reinstatement. Third parties can apply if they had started legal proceedings against the company before it was deregistered. You apply on Form 581. The cost depends on the company type and how long it has been deregistered: an application fee, any fees the company owed when deregistered, and annual review fees for the years it was off the register. ASIC offers a reinstatement calculator and will email a detailed estimate within 28 days of a request; after you lodge and pay, a decision can take another 28 days.

Court reinstatement is for former liquidators and people aggrieved by the deregistration — for instance, a creditor or someone with a contract with the company — and for cases ASIC can't handle, such as a company that was in liquidation or would have no directors on reinstatement. You apply to a superior court and must serve ASIC with the application at least 28 days before the hearing. ASIC's Regulatory Guide 83 sets out the requirements; legal advice is strongly recommended.

If the old company name has been taken by someone else in the meantime, the company is reinstated under its ACN (for example, "ACN 123 456 789 Pty Ltd").

When you need a liquidator instead

If the company is solvent but holds more than A$1,000 in assets you can't distribute beforehand, or has liabilities you can't settle first, the route is a members' voluntary liquidation. A majority of directors makes a declaration of solvency on Form 520 that the company can pay all its debts within 12 months, and lodges it with ASIC. Members then pass a special resolution to wind up and appoint a registered liquidator at a meeting held within five weeks of the declaration (on 21 days' notice unless members agree to shorter). The company notifies ASIC of the resolution on Form 205 within 7 days and publishes a notice on the Published notices website (ASIC lists the notice fee as A$64). The liquidator realises the assets, pays creditors, distributes the rest to members and lodges an end of administration return; the company is deregistered three months later.

Liquidation costs more because you pay a professional, but it's the safe way to return significant capital to shareholders and deal with lingering liabilities. If the company is insolvent, it needs a creditors' voluntary liquidation or other insolvency process, and the directors should get advice before doing anything else.

Worked example: closing a dormant consulting company

Nadia ran her consulting work through Harbourline Advisory Pty Ltd, registered in August 2021. She's the sole director and shareholder. In March 2026 she took a full-time job, and the company stopped trading. Its review date is 20 August.

In April she invoices her last client, receives payment, pays her accountant and lodges the final BAS, cancelling the company's GST registration from the end of that quarter. In June the company's bank balance is A$6,400. On her accountant's advice, the company pays her a final franked dividend of A$5,800, leaving about A$600 to cover the last fees. Her accountant lodges the company's final tax return early in July, and the ATO confirms there's nothing owing.

On 15 July she lodges Form 6010 online and pays the A$52 fee from the company's account, then pays the last bank fees and closes the account, leaving the company with nil assets. ASIC approves the application and publishes the notice in late July. Because the 20 August review date falls within two months of the notice date, she doesn't pay the A$342 review fee for 2026. The company is deregistered about two months after the notice. She keeps the company's records in a folder for at least 5 years.

Had she waited until October, the review fee would have fallen due in mid-October and she would have had to pay it before the company could be deregistered — or, if she'd simply ignored the company, it would have collected late fees of A$102 and then A$428 before ASIC eventually struck it off.

Harbourline Advisory — the closing sequence

March

Trading stops

April

Last invoice paid; final BAS; GST cancelled

June

Final dividend; bank balance run down

Early July

Final company tax return lodged and processed

15 July

Form 6010 lodged; A$52 paid; bank account closed

Late July

ASIC publishes the deregistration notice

About 2 months later

Company deregistered; no review fee for the year

Common mistakes and how to fix them

Applying with money still in the bank. It vests in ASIC. Fix: distribute or spend it lawfully and close the account first.

Forgetting a director loan or employee leave. Both are liabilities, so the declaration would be false. Fix: settle or resolve every liability with your accountant's help before signing.

Lodging before the ATO has processed the final return. A refund or debt that appears after deregistration can't be dealt with without reinstatement. Fix: wait for the ATO to confirm the final lodgments are processed.

Letting ASIC strike the company off. It feels free, but late fees accrue in the meantime and any leftover assets are lost to ASIC. Fix: apply voluntarily; it costs A$52.

Leaving the corporate trustee role unfilled. A company acting as trustee of a family trust or SMSF can't simply disappear. Fix: appoint a new trustee before applying.

Shredding the records. Former directors must keep the books for 3 years. Fix: archive them, digitally if you like.

Official links

• ASIC — Voluntary deregistrationCriteria and process
• ASIC — Form 6010Lodge online, by email or post
• ATO — Deregistering a companyTax and super steps before you apply
• ASIC — Reinstate a companyASIC and court reinstatement
• ASIC — Wind up a solvent companyMembers' voluntary liquidation
• ASIC — Deregistered company propertyWhat happens to leftover assets

What to do next

Diarise your company's review date, work backwards, and aim to lodge Form 6010 well before the fee falls due. If you're closing one company to start another structure, our guides to registering a company and ABN registration cover the setup side, and our ASIC annual review guide explains the fees you'll stop paying once the company is gone.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to deregister a company in Australia?

ASIC's fee for voluntary deregistration on Form 6010 is A$52 from 1 July 2026, and it isn't refunded if the application is rejected. The company must also have paid every fee and penalty it owes ASIC. If the company doesn't qualify and needs a members' voluntary liquidation, the liquidator's fees are a much larger private cost.

How long does it take to deregister a company?

Once ASIC approves the application it publishes a notice on its Published notices website, and the company may be deregistered 2 months after that. Allow extra time for ASIC to process the application before the notice appears. ASIC suggests applying at least two weeks before your next annual review fee is due.

Do I need ATO clearance before deregistering a company?

ASIC doesn't ask for a clearance letter, but Form 6010 requires a declaration that the company has no outstanding liabilities — which includes tax and super. The ATO says to lodge all overdue and final returns and activity statements, pay all debts and finalise super and STP before applying. Making a false declaration to ASIC is an offence.

What happens to money left in a deregistered company's bank account?

It vests in ASIC. Banks are expected to freeze the account once they learn the company is deregistered and, if it isn't reinstated, send company funds to ASIC as unclaimed money. Getting it back means reinstating the company, so transfer or distribute everything before you apply.

Can a deregistered company be reinstated?

Yes, in limited cases. ASIC can reinstate a company if it shouldn't have been deregistered — for example, a false declaration on Form 6010 — and former officeholders or members applying must confirm the company will be solvent. Otherwise a former liquidator or an aggrieved person can ask a superior court to order reinstatement. Fees include an application fee plus the review fees for the years it was off the register.

Are directors still liable after a company is deregistered?

They can be. The ATO can still pursue former directors under the director penalty regime for unpaid PAYG withholding, net GST and super guarantee charge incurred before deregistration. Directors must also keep the company's books for 3 years after deregistration.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 12 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.Voluntary deregistration of a company — Australian Securities and Investments Commission · accessed 12 October 2026
2. 2.Form 6010 Application for voluntary deregistration of a company (form and guide) — Australian Securities and Investments Commission · accessed 12 October 2026
3. 3.ASIC fees data file (fees-data-current.json) — Australian Securities and Investments Commission · accessed 12 October 2026
4. 4.Deregistering a company — Australian Taxation Office · accessed 12 October 2026
5. 5.Final lodgments and record keeping — Australian Taxation Office · accessed 12 October 2026
6. 6.Reinstate a company after deregistration; Apply to ASIC to reinstate a company; Apply to a court to reinstate a company — Australian Securities and Investments Commission · accessed 12 October 2026
7. 7.Deregistered company property; Books and records; Bank accounts of a deregistered company — Australian Securities and Investments Commission · accessed 12 October 2026
8. 8.Wind up a solvent company — Australian Securities and Investments Commission · accessed 12 October 2026
9. 9.When ASIC initiates a company's deregistration — Australian Securities and Investments Commission · accessed 12 October 2026