A Corporate Key is like your company’s Personal Identification Number (PIN). It is a unique eight-digit number that comes with your company’s ACN and is issued at the time you register a company.
Within two days of registering a new company with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, ASIC will send a letter to the company’s registered office containing the corporate key. It will then appear on the top right hand corner of the company’s annual statement.
A corporate key makes it possible to register online with ASIC so you can log forms and receive annual statements digitally. Once you’ve registered you won’t need to quote the corporate key each time you login.
If, instead of lodging forms online, you wish to lodge paper forms, you will need to include the corporate key as indicated. If the correct corporate key is not included in lodged documents, you will be contacted by ASIC before any lodgement is processed.
The corporate key is fixed for the life of the company but there are circumstances under which you can request to have the existing key cancelled and apply for a new corporate key. You must be an office holder or agent of the company or be an administrator or liquidator in order to request the provision of a replacement corporate key.
The main reasons for requesting a new corporate key would be if the security of your company’s number had been breach. For instance, unauthorised personnel may have gained access to it. Another reason for seeking its replacement would be if the original had been forgotten or misplaced.
if you register online and intend to do all of your business with ASIC digitally, it is essential to ensure that you keep your corporate key. There may be occasions when corporate forms will need to be lodged in paper form, particularly forms 362, 484 or 486 and you will need your corporate key to do so.
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