Pricing reality
What does ASIC compliance actually cost per company?
Somewhere between $90 and $300 per entity per year, depending on who you use, plus the ASIC statutory fee of $342 paid through. Here is what actually drives the price, what to expect at different provider tiers, and what you should never pay for.
The four parts of an ASIC bill
Most invoices bundle these together as one line. They shouldn't. Here is what you're actually paying for.
| Component | Type | Typical |
|---|---|---|
ASIC annual review fee Set by ASIC for proprietary companies, 2026–27. A special purpose company that is a proprietary company pays $70. A public company pays $1,591. | Statutory | $342 |
Registered agent service fee What the agent charges to manage the lodgement, run the deadline calendar, and handle change notifications. | Service | $90 to $300 |
Change lodgement fees ASIC charges nothing for most Form 484 lodgements within 28 days. Late lodgements attract statutory late fees. Some agents charge a per-change service fee on top. | Mixed | $0 to $50 |
Formation fee (one-off) For new Pty Ltd registration. Includes ASIC's $636 statutory fee plus the agent's service fee. | Service + ASIC | $700 to $1,200 |
Statutory figures reflect ASIC's current schedule for proprietary companies. Special purpose companies pay a reduced annual review fee.
Market rates at four provider tiers
Annual cost per entity, including statutory ASIC fee. Service fee is what the provider keeps; the rest passes through to ASIC.
DIY (lodging direct with ASIC)
Service fee
$0
All-in total
$342 / yr
Free in service fees, costly in your time. You manage every deadline yourself, lodge through ASIC EDGE or paper, handle every change notification.
Small accountant-led services
Service fee
$150 to $250
All-in total
$492 to $592 / yr
Common at firms that haven't industrialised the function. The accountant's admin person fits ASIC work around their other duties.
Where CoSec sits
Specialist providers (CoSec, Patricia, similar)
Service fee
$90 to $150
All-in total
$432 to $492 / yr
Lower per-entity rate at scale. Specialist team running it as a primary function rather than as overflow work.
Big 4 / mid-tier firms
Service fee
$300 to $600
All-in total
$642 to $942 / yr
Premium pricing. Suits multinational and listed-company governance work where the budget exists and the complexity warrants partner-level attention.
Volume and complexity are what move the price
Three legitimate reasons your per-entity rate moves from the band above.
Volume
More entities push the per-entity rate down. A 200-entity book typically pays 30–40% less per entity than a single-entity engagement.
Complexity
Foreign-owned subsidiaries, multi-class share structures, and listed-entity governance add cost. Special purpose companies (SMSF trustees, charitable trustees) cost less.
Service depth
White Label models cost more than basic registered agent because we run an entire branded interface for your firm. Premium support adds cost. Plain registered agent is cheapest.
Worked examples
The annual cost in three common situations
Sole trader with one Pty Ltd
$432 to $492
Statutory $342 + service $90–$150
For a single trading company under specialist registered agent service. DIY would be $342, but the time cost rarely makes that worthwhile.
Family group, 5 entities
$2,160 to $2,460
5 × ($342 + $90–$150)
Family groups pay per entity. Most providers offer modest volume discounts in this range. A superannuation trustee company in the group qualifies for the $70 special purpose rate; an ordinary trustee company for a family or unit trust does not.
Accounting firm, 200 client entities
$86,400 to $92,400
200 × ($342 + $90–$120 at volume)
At this volume, the per-entity service fee drops further. The total bill is mostly ASIC statutory pass-through, not the agent's margin.
Things you should not pay for
Common gotchas in ASIC service contracts. None of these are universal, but each is common enough to be worth checking your invoices for.
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Per-change fees that should be included
Director changes, address changes, share allotments are routine. A good registered agent service includes these at the annual rate. If you're being charged $50–$100 per change on top, you're paying for software the provider already has.
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Software fees on top of service fees
The provider's software cost is the provider's problem, not yours. A flat per-entity fee should cover the platform.
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"Express" charges for statutory deadlines
If a lodgement is late because of the provider's delay, that's their issue. Express fees should never apply to deadlines the provider should already have managed.
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Charges for things ASIC does for free
ASIC company extracts, current officeholder details, and most database searches are free or near-free. A per-search fee here is markup.
What partners ask about pricing
Why is the statutory ASIC fee so much higher than the service fee?
Because ASIC sets it. The $342 annual review fee is a tax on every Australian proprietary company, paid through the registered agent to ASIC. Specialist agents like CoSec have very thin margins on this passthrough; the service fee is what we earn for managing the relationship.
Do special purpose companies pay less?
Yes, but the category is narrower than most people assume. ASIC's reduced rate is $70 a year for 2026–27, and qualification is defined by a closed list in regulation 3 of the Corporations (Review Fees) Regulations 2003: superannuation trustee companies, home unit companies, charitable companies, and a few narrow categories around companies registered without ‘Limited’ in their name. Acting as trustee of a family or unit trust does not qualify a company on its own: it pays the full $342. Qualification turns on the constitution, so it has to be right when the company is registered.
How does CoSec's pricing compare?
Our Outsourced model starts from $99 per entity per year for firms with 20+ entities, dropping further at higher volumes. White Label CAS360 is custom pricing depending on tier and book size. Flexible ad hoc is quoted per job.
What's a fair price for a 100-entity book?
In our experience, somewhere between $90 and $130 per entity per year (service fee, not including ASIC statutory) is the market rate for a specialist registered agent. Anything materially higher should come with a clear reason: more complexity, more service depth, or premium support.
Are there any hidden costs?
There shouldn't be. Get a written quote that names everything: annual fee per entity, formation fee, what's included for changes, what's extra. If a provider can't answer that in two paragraphs, that's a flag.