Your organisation can now budget for its industry funding levy.

On 5 December 2018, ASIC published the exact levies payable by regulated entities in 2019 under the new industry funding arrangements.

How much will I need to pay?

The amount of your levy depends on the industry subsector that you operate in, and, in some cases, the size of your organisation or level of business activity. The levy is tax deductible.

A few levies are extracted in the table below. The full list can be found at ASIC industry funding: Summary of 2017-18 levies.

Subsector Levy payable
Credit intermediaries Minimum levy of $1,000 plus $16.48 per credit representative
Financial planner (licensees that provide personal advice to retail clients on relevant financial products) Minimum levy of $1,500 plus $934 per adviser on the financial advisers register
Responsible entities Minimum levy of $7,000 plus $16.30 per $1 million of assets above the $10m threshold
Retail OTC derivatives issuers $45,592

ASIC also notes the following key points:

  • The amounts shown are the levies payable by entities in each industry subsector.
  • Individual entities can calculate their specific invoice amount from the information found in the summary.
  • Invoices will be issued in early 2019.
  • Detailed information about how ASIC calculates levies is available in the ASIC cost recovery regulations.

What else do I need to know?

Late payment of the levy will attract a penalty of 20% per annum of the outstanding amount, charged monthly. Further, making false or misleading statements resulting in a smaller levy than you should be paying will result in a penalty equal to twice the amount of the shortfall.

Organisations will already have made some representations to ASIC in their business activity statements, which had to be submitted by the end of September. They also need to ensure that they are meeting ongoing ASIC notification requirements, such as putting advisers on the financial advisers register.

You can calculate the levy your organisation will need to pay. Note whether a 'flat levy' (costs equally among those operating in a particular subsector) or 'graduated levy' (levy determined by an organisation's size or level of business activity) applies. Then calculate the amount your organisation can expect to pay, in preparation for receiving an invoice in early 2019.

Make sure your address details registered with ASIC are up to date through the appropriate regulatory portal. In the future, it is also important to continue to submit business activity metrics to ASIC by the annual due date.

Background

The funding arrangements became law in 2017, and will enable ASIC to recover its regulatory costs which total $236.6m. The arrangements stem from a recommendation in the 2014 Murray Financial System Inquiry, and aim to ensure a 'fair, strong and efficient financial system for all Australians' according to ASIC Commissioner Cathie Armour. Small proprietary companies and registered charities generally do not have specific obligations under these arrangements – unless they are also part of another regulated group such as Australian financial services licensees.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.