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ASIC Corporate Insolvency Update – Issue 39

Issue 39, March 2026

Webinars to help registered liquidators prepare applications and report alleged misconduct

In March 2026, we hosted a series of webinars for registered liquidators and their staff, focused on the following topics:

  • applying for assistance to obtain books and records (including Form 507 Report on company activities and property (ROCAP)) and applying for funding from the Assetless Administration Fund, and
  • reporting alleged offences or misconduct to ASIC.

Through hosting the webinars and sharing experience-based insights, we aimed to provide attendees better insights into:

  • the factors we consider when assessing applications and reports of alleged misconduct and offences, and
  • the nature and type of information and evidence we need to assess and action these applications and reports (including taking enforcement action when appropriate).

The webinars were well attended, with around 894 attendees for the part 1 sessions and 806 attendees for the part 2 sessions. The part 1 sessions were focused on applications for assistance to obtain books and reporting offence and misconduct to ASIC. The part 2 sessions were focused on applications for funding from the Assetless Administration Fund.

We sent attendees a feedback survey after the webinars. We will review the feedback and use it to inform and enhance our future engagement with industry (including hosting further webinars).

We encourage registered liquidators who have any further feedback or ideas on topics for future webinars to send them to RLwebinars@asic.gov.au.

New liquidator portal transaction: View a company’s current details

We recognise that access to company and officeholder information is critical for registered liquidators to carry out their statutory duties effectively, so we have made changes to improve access to this information.

We have introduced the new ‘View company details’ transaction in the liquidator portal. This transaction will allow registered liquidators to access the current details of a company, including the residential address of any appointed officeholders, at no cost.

To access the details of a company using this new transaction:

  1. Log in to the ASIC liquidator e-business portal.
  2. Click View company details in the left-hand menu.
  3. Enter the Australian Business Number (ABN) or Australian Company Number (ACN) of the company whose details you need to access.
  4. The system will present you with the current details of the company. If you want to save the details as a PDF file, use the ‘print to PDF’ feature in your web browser.

If you require information about previous officeholders, you can access that by purchasing a report/extract through an information broker.

We have implemented this new transaction as an immediate solution following recent changes to company extracts. However, we are also considering longer term options to further improve the availability of company and officeholder information to liquidators.

If you have any questions, please email RLQueries@asic.gov.au.

Changes to service of insolvency applications on ASIC

Applications made under Chapter 5 and Schedule 2 of the Corporations Act 2001 (insolvency applications) can now be served on ASIC by emailing the court documents to rl.legal@asic.gov.au (service email) and copying in the ASIC team you are already dealing with (if appropriate).

We review each insolvency application and will provide an email acknowledging service for each insolvency application served on ASIC via the service email. However, we will not provide a formal response to each application. Information Sheet 279 Serving legal documents on ASIC (INFO 279) sets out ASIC’s approach to insolvency applications and the types of applications we will formally respond to.

INFO 279 also provides guidance on how to serve other types of applications on ASIC.

Under the court rules, it is a requirement to serve insolvency applications on ASIC within a reasonable time.   

What we consider reasonable may vary depending on the type of application:

  • For urgent applications, reasonable service may be the day before the hearing.
  • For applications seeking extensions of convening periods, reasonable service may be several days before the hearing.
  • For most other applications, we consider reasonable service to be at least 14 days before the hearing.

This is particularly relevant where a registered liquidator is seeking remuneration approval.  We require sufficient time to consider whether the information provided is adequate for us to assess the application. We may request work in progress records in excel format to assist us to assess the reasonableness of a registered liquidator’s remuneration.

Disclaiming property held on trust – what liquidators need to know

Recent court decisions have highlighted important limits on a liquidator’s ability to disclaim property where a company holds assets as a trustee.

Under section 568 of the Corporation Act, a liquidator may disclaim onerous property. A disclaimer releases the company from its own rights, interests and liabilities in relation to that property, but it does not extinguish the rights of other parties, except to the extent necessary to release the company.

However, where a company holds property on trust, the position will be more complex. The courts have confirmed that trust assets are not company property for general insolvency purposes. Instead, the company’s proprietary interest is limited to its right of indemnity and any associated equitable lien over the trust assets.

This means the liquidator of a former corporate trustee will generally not have the power to sell trust assets or fully disclaim them without court involvement under trustee legislation.

For example, a company held land as trustee and ceased to be the active trustee upon the appointment of liquidators. The liquidators attempted to disclaim the land as ‘land burdened with onerous covenants’. At that time, the company no longer held the land beneficially, and its only remaining proprietary interest was its right of indemnity and any associated lien. In these circumstances, the disclaimer could operate only on those personal rights. It did not deprive the legal estate in fee simple held on trust, and did not affect the interests of beneficiaries or secured creditors.

The recent decisions have reinforced that disclaimers cannot be used to strip trust property from the trust structure.

Draft information sheet on reviewing liquidator appointment

We are planning to release an information sheet explaining when we may use ASIC’s power to appoint a reviewing liquidator under Subdivision C of Division 90 in Schedule 2 of the Corporations Act.

The information sheet will explain:

  • when we may exercise ASIC’s power to appoint a registered liquidator as a reviewing liquidator – generally, where we have concerns about the administration of a company,
  • who can apply to ASIC for the appointment of a reviewing liquidator, and
  • how to apply.

We will shortly be releasing a draft of the information sheet for consultation, and expect to release the final information sheet by 30 June 2026.

Section 509 repealed and replaced by section 550

Section 509 of the Corporations Act, previously contained in Division 4 of Part 5.5 of the Corporations Act (voluntary winding up generally), has been repealed and replaced by the new section 550 located in Division 4 of Part 5.6 (winding up generally).

Section 550 applies to both court‑ordered and creditors’ voluntary liquidations. Under the new provision, a company in liquidation will be automatically deregistered three months after lodgement of Form 5603 End of administration return. As a result, Form 578 Deregistration request (liquidator not acting or affairs fully wound up) is no longer required in court liquidations.

The amending legislation was passed by both Houses of Parliament on 27 November 2025 and received Royal Assent on 4 December 2025.

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Insolvency statistics

Our insolvency statistics show that 9,307 companies entered external administration during the first eight months of the 2025–26 financial year, down 1.3% from the 9,432 companies recorded for the same period in 2024–25.

As of 28 February 2026, there were 3,694,705 registered companies. In the period from 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026, the ratio of companies entering administration compared to the number of companies registered is 0.40%. This ratio remains well below the prior peaks of 0.56% and 0.53% in the 2011–12 and 2012–13 financial years, respectively.  

During the first eight months of the 2025–26 financial year, the most common industries for appointments were construction (24%), accommodation and food services (15%), other/non-described services (10%), professional, scientific and technical services (7%) and retail trade (7%).

For more information, please see insolvency statistics on the ASIC website.

Contacts

Email support and contact details for ASIC team members for each state and territory are available on the Contacts page.