Trustee Company - maintaining a company register?

[JIT]

Hi there,

I have a trust with a trustee company, and pay an annual ASIC fee of $212.

My accountant just charged me $330 for ''mantaining a company register".

I've never been charged a fee specifically for this work before... is this a rort?!

Also, does the registered office address of the trustee company have to be your accountant's address, or can it be your own addresss?

Thanks.

 

[MattR]

You can change your Registered Office to your own if you like.

As for the charge, its typically in the $120 to $200 vicinity, so yours id a bit cheap. EDIT STEEP, I MEAN"T STEEP !

Also if the Trustee coy is just a trustee coy (and not trading or a beneficiary) then ASIC filing can be $45 a year

 

[brucea]

When you submit the change of registered office address to ASIC make sure you do it within the period allowed - 28 days. Or more importantly, date the effective date the address changed within that many days of your notification. Otherwise ASIC will generate a penalty notice automatically.

Oh and I reckon $330 to maintain your register of shareholders - which presumably hasn't changed at all - is gouging.

EDIT: Form 484. The time limit is 28 days..

 

[austini]

JIT,

You are being ripped off. Maintaining your company register for a simple Trustee Coy is rediculously easy. ASIC has the information on their website needed to do this yourself. Most things can simply be done online. And having the ASIC bill sent directly to you minimises the risk of the accountant forgetting to do it which can result in an overdue fee.

Cheers - Gordon

 

[dan c]

You can have the Company Register anywhere you like, but the address is on the public record and can be seen when someone conducts a company search. Also, I believe there is some requirement that the company register be available for viewing during office hours.

$300 is steep. Most firms charge about $100 for 'maintaining the register'. And by 'maintaining the register', I mean 'filing'.

 

[coastymike]

Some interesting things to consider.

You nonimate your home as the registered office.

Under Section 173 of the Corporations Act 2001 I have a right to inspect your company register http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/s173.html

Then under Section 1300 of the Corporations Act 2001 I have a right within 7 days to inspect the book at the place where it is required to be kept which is the registered office http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/s1300.html

So anyone from the public can inspect your company register at its registered office which if it is your home means that the public is welcome to come into your house. Otherwise you have committed a criminal offense by not allowing them to do so. Id prefer to pay some form of notional fee to have it somewhere other than my home address.

 

[Carlyle81]

Take note of coastymikes response as I agree with him re notional fee.

At our firm we charge $55 per annum for maintaining the register and regularly see other firms in Newcastle charging around the $100 mark, so $330 does seem expensive to me.

MattR the special purpose company fee of $40 only applies to companies that are just trustees of SMSF's not if it is a trustee company of family/unit trusts.

 

[brucea]

...So anyone from the public can inspect your company register at its registered office which if it is your home means that the public is welcome to come into your house. Otherwise you have committed a criminal offense by not allowing them to do so. Id prefer to pay some form of notional fee to have it somewhere other than my home address.

You're taking a bit of a leap in logic there. Anyone can turn up at your home address (if that is the registered company address) and ask to inspect your register but there's nothing requiring you to admit people to your house or even your property. Meet them at the boundary, say sure do you want to just look at it or would you like a photocopy? And guess what? No one ever has and no one ever will.

Charging anything for "maintaining a company register" without actually doing anything for that 12 month period (i.e. no shareholdings or office bearers have changed and no strangers have turned up asking to inspect it) is gouging unless it's a $2 charge for the space occupied in the filing cabinet.

 

[JIT]

Thanks for the replies.
I thought it was a bit steep for such minor work.
I don't mind paying ''notional fees'' for this, but $330 is a joke.
Especially as the register hasn't changed in anyway in 5 years.

 

[coastymike]

Bruce

What if they prepare the solvency resolution which is required every year ? Surely this is worth more than $2.

And who says noone ever has ? Obviously you haven't had much experience with some bitter legal disputes and the tactics some lawyers use just to rack up costs for the other party. Sometimes it is just to frustrate the other party or delay things or anything else that is legal. Then the other party has to go to their lawyer increasing the costs even further. It is a common strategy for high net worth individuals to bog you down with legal demands and make sure your legal fees are as high as possible.

Note I am not supporting whether the $330 is reasonable or not as this is a business decision for the individual business. JIT has a right not to pay it and do it himself which is again not an issue. Just raising the responsibilities which only ever become an issue when it is an issue.

 

[brucea]

...What if they prepare the solvency resolution which is required every year ? Surely this is worth more than $2.
...
And who says noone ever has ? Obviously you haven't had much experience with some bitter legal disputes...
...
Note I am not supporting whether the $330 is reasonable or not as this is a business decision for the individual business.

The solvency resolution is just a minute. There's no need to file a form with ASIC if the company is solvent. And solvency is a moot point with a company that acts only as trustee.

I meant no-one in the sense that it is extraordinarily unlikely. If legal battles are an issue by all means pay someone to handle it, but I suspect for most people legal battles are not an issue.

And yes I agree, it's a business decision for the individual business to make. As long as that business is properly informed of what service is being delivered for the money rather than some pretence that managing a register for a company acting as trustee is anything other than completely trivial.

 

[Cormac05]

Basically while registering a limited company, there are 4 forms of documentation required like Articles of association, Memorandum of association, Form 12 and 10.

 

[coastymike]

Oh how I love SEO spam. Companies in Australia no longer have an articles and memorandum of association they have one document called a company constitution. What if I order your package and only get one document do I get a refund ? Form 12 and Form 10. Oh how interesting I thought that was for UK public limited companies. But wait the link goes to an Australian website. I hope Alan's off the shelf didn't pay too much for his SEO outsourcing.