Now lawBusiness & Trade Introduced in the House of Representatives, 14 May 2026

ASIC now keeps the company registers for good

A costly plan to move business records to the Tax Office was scrapped. This law makes the company watchdog the long-term keeper of the records. It links every director's ID number to the list of companies. It lets the watchdog strike off companies that give false information.

Official name: Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Bill 2026

Who it affects

• Company directors: They must give their company their Director ID within 7 days. They can choose another address for the public list.
• Companies: They must report directors' ID numbers and email addresses to the watchdog and keep them up to date.
• People dodging debts through phoenix companies: Phoenix companies are shut down to dodge debts, then started again as new companies. Linking Director ID numbers to the list makes it easier to spot directors behind company after company that fails.
• Lenders, investigators and people who search the list: The watchdog can now hide some personal details or old records if the risks are bigger than the benefits.

Register plan $1 billion over

Every Australian company must be on an official list called a register. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission keeps it. That is the company and finance watchdog. The list shows details such as who the directors are.

In 2020 the government of the day, run by the Liberal and National parties, passed laws for the Modernising Business Registers program. It planned to move more than 30 lists into one system run through the Australian Taxation Office. It was meant to cost $480.5 million.

In July 2022 the government found it would cost about $1 billion more. It would not finish until 2027. An outside review in 2023 said to stop it. On 28 August 2023 the government agreed. It said the watchdog would keep running the lists.

Most of those 2020 laws were due to start on 1 July 2026. This law cancels them first. It also adds new rules to make the watchdog's lists better.

Director IDs on the register

Since November 2021, every company director must have a Director ID. It is a unique number a person keeps for life. It was brought in to fight illegal phoenix activity.

Phoenix activity is when a company is shut down to dodge its debts. Then a new company carries on the same business without them. The ID helps track directors who keep doing this.

From 1 July 2027, companies must give the watchdog each director's ID. They must do this when they first sign up and when they appoint a director. They must also do it when a director's details change or a director leaves. These notices are due within 28 days.

Directors must give their ID to the company within 7 days of starting. Some new directors do not have an ID yet. They get 7 days after they receive it. The company then has 14 more days.

The watchdog will be able to show Director ID numbers on its lists. Say a builder's company owes you money and goes broke. You could check if its directors ran other companies that failed.

Tougher Director ID enforcement

Some people ignore an order to apply for a Director ID. The watchdog can now ban them from running companies for up to three years. It must first give them a chance to explain. The decision can be reviewed.

The official who hands out Director ID numbers can no longer give on-the-spot fines. The watchdog becomes the only body that makes people follow these rules.

That official gets clear power to fix wrong Director ID details it holds. Tax Office staff who help run Director ID numbers can also share protected information with the watchdog.

New ASIC powers over registers

Before, the watchdog could only strike off a company for things like unpaid fees or missing reports. Now it can also strike off a company for giving it bad information. It must have reason to believe the information was false, misleading or missing a lot.

This includes a company that names someone as a director who never says yes to the job. Companies can ask for the decision to be reviewed. A review body, like a court but less formal, would look at it.

The watchdog can also fix mistakes on its lists on its own. Before, it mostly needed the company to ask, or a court order.

The watchdog can show extra information when it is good for the public. One example is a flag that a company has not sent in its reports. Another is a flag that a director has run companies that failed.

The watchdog can also limit who sees some information if the risks are bigger than the benefits. This could cover personal details that put privacy at risk. It could also cover old records that are out of date.

Addresses and email

A director's home address is usually where legal papers get sent. Before, only some people could use another address. One example was people whose address was hidden on the list of voters.

Now any director can use another Australian address on the public list. They must still give the watchdog and their company their real home address.

From 1 July 2027, companies must give the watchdog an email address for the company. They must also give one for each director and company secretary. A company secretary is the officer who handles a company's official papers. They must update it within 28 days of a change. If not, they face a fine of up to 60 penalty units, a set measure used for fines. The watchdog can then send notices by email.

The watchdog can also set how papers must be sent to it, such as through one online site.

Undoing the scrapped program

Part 3 cancels or rolls back changes made by 10 laws passed for the old program. Most had not started yet. A few had. Those are changed back to how the law was before.

The watchdog stays named in the law as the body in charge of the lists it ran before. The Australian Business Register lists the numbers businesses use for tax and bills. It stays with the Tax Office under its old rules.

The 2020 law that set up the shared lists stays in place. But it is now only used to run the Director ID system.

Start date

The bill went into the House of Representatives on 14 May 2026. It passed there on 27 May. A group of senators said on 17 June 2026 that it should pass. The Senate, Parliament's second house, passed it on 29 June 2026.

The Governor-General, the King's representative, signed it into law on 30 June 2026. It became Act No. 57 of 2026. The part undoing the old program started on 30 June 2026. That was just before the old laws would have kicked in.

Most of the watchdog's new powers started the day after it was signed. Reporting Director ID numbers and email addresses starts on 1 July 2027. The other addresses start by 1 July 2027 at the latest.

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

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