Directors granted leeway to apply for Director ID by 14 December 2022

The Australian Business Registry Services (ABRS) Registrar has announced that directors who were required to apply for a director ID by 30 November 2022 (being directors and alternate directors of companies governed by the Corporations Act who were appointed on or before 31 October 2021) have until 14 December 2022 before the ABRS will exercise any enforcement measures.

The ABRS has noted that, as at 30 November 2022, over 1.8 million directors had applied for their director ID (with around 600,000 applying in November alone) – however, there remain approximately 700,000 directors who are yet to apply.

Resigned directors no longer obliged to apply

In addition, under the Australian Taxation Office’s draft legislative instrument ABRS 2022/D1 (drafted to take effect from 1 December 2022), directors who were directors of companies on or before 31 October 2021, but who ceased to hold any role as an appointed director or alternate director acting in that capacity prior to 1 December 2022, do not have to apply for a director ID.

Act quickly to avoid penalties

Directors should act quickly to apply for their director ID to avoid the imposition of any fine by the ABRS. Applications can be made over the phone or online at the ABRS website. To find out more about the director ID regime generally, see our previous article here.