ASIC Form 384 Outlines Reporting Relief Notice for Foreign-Controlled Small Proprietary Companies

Key Takeaways

• ASIC's Form 384 lets directors of eligible small proprietary companies controlled by a foreign company, and not part of a large group, notify ASIC of a resolution not to prepare financial or directors' reports under Instrument 2017/204.
• The lodgement window is strict and no extensions are available, so a missed filing means the company loses the relief and must prepare, audit, and lodge full financial statements.
• Compliance teams should note that the form is dated 2017, so the publication date of 2026-09-16 likely reflects a republication or website update rather than a new rule.

Deep Dive

ASIC's Form 384 lets directors of eligible small proprietary companies controlled by a foreign company, and not part of a large group, notify ASIC of a resolution not to prepare financial or directors' reports under Instrument 2017/204. The lodgement window is strict and no extensions are available, so a missed filing means the company loses the relief and must prepare, audit, and lodge full financial statements. Compliance teams should note that the form is dated 2017, so the publication date of 2026-09-16 likely reflects a republication or website update rather than a new rule.

Form 384 is the notification vehicle for relief under ASIC Corporations (Foreign-Controlled Company Reports) Instrument 2017/204. The relief exempts eligible small proprietary companies controlled by a foreign company from preparing, auditing, and lodging financial and directors' reports. To use it, directors must formally resolve that the company will not prepare these reports for the relevant financial year. They then certify the form as true and complete, stating their name, capacity, signature, and date. Compliance teams should treat the form as a statutory attestation. The document does not show new substantive requirements. The form carries a 31 March 2017 version date, so the 2026 date should be verified against ASIC's website before concluding that anything has changed.

The timing rules are the main operational risk. Directors may resolve to rely on the relief no earlier than three months before the start of each financial year in which it is used. Lodgement is required for the first year of reliance, and for the first year following any year in which relief was not relied upon. The lodgement window opens three months before the start of the relevant financial year and closes four months after its end. ASIC states that no extension of time is available. If the company misses the window, it has not met the instrument's conditions and should prepare, audit, and lodge financial statements and reports for that year.

Companies must also manage the end of reliance. If directors resolve to stop relying on the relief, the company ceases to be foreign-controlled, or the relief becomes unavailable for another reason, and no annual financial report is lodged for that year, the company must lodge Form 394 (Notice of cessation of reliance). Entities should monitor ownership changes, group size, and eligibility conditions on a continuing basis, since a change in control or in "large group" status could silently invalidate the exemption.

Recommended actions: (1) maintain a register of Australian subsidiaries relying on Instrument 2017/204, with financial year-ends and lodgement windows; (2) calendar the resolution date and the lodgement deadline for each entity; (3) document the board resolution and the supporting eligibility analysis, including foreign-control and large-group tests; (4) set up triggers for ownership or size changes that would require Form 394; and (5) confirm the current form version and instrument status in the ASIC Regulatory Guide 58 materials. The risks of non-compliance include late or missing financial reports, potential penalties under the Corporations Act 2001, and reputational and audit-readiness problems for group reporting.

Source: Australian Securities and Investments Commission