What is registered office & officeholder changes?
Form 484 changes lodged inside the 28-day window — because the late fee schedule does not care why.
A company's registered office and its officeholder list are two facts ASIC keeps on the public register, and both are the company's responsibility to keep current — not ASIC's to chase. Nothing about either one is automatic: a director resigns, a company moves premises, a new director is appointed, and none of that reaches ASIC until someone lodges Form 484. Miss the window and the register simply keeps showing the old address or the old director, which is where court documents get served, where ASIC correspondence goes, and where a bank or a landlord looks when they want to know who actually runs the company.
Both changes share one form and one clock: 28 days from the date the change actually took effect, not from the date someone got around to filing it. A registered-office change starts that clock the day the company begins operating from the new address. An officeholder change starts it the day the resignation, removal or appointment takes effect — which for an appointment means the day the new director consents to act, and that consent itself has a precondition most people don't know about until they hit it: the incoming director needs a director ID before they can lawfully consent, not after.
Who does what
Prepared and coordinated through the ASIC registered agent.
Who does what
| Your CapEasy team | Registered office & officeholder changes, the reconciliations and reporting behind it, and the questions list that keeps it honest. |
| Your registered BAS or tax agent | Everything that carries a licence in Australia — rendered exactly as written: work out what goes on your bas, or advise you on it — under tasa 2009 that requires registration we do not hold. |
| You | One conversation with one named person, and the decisions that are genuinely yours. |
Registered office & officeholder changes in Australia
The 28-day clock starts on the change, not on the filing
Form 484 has to reach ASIC within 28 days of the registered-office move or the officeholder change actually taking effect — a director resigning on the 1st of the month starts the clock that day, whether or not the resignation letter gets filed away for a few weeks first. Missing the window triggers the standard ASIC late-lodgement schedule ($102 within one month late, $428 beyond that, FY26-27 figures), the same schedule that applies to a late annual review payment.
A director ID has to exist before consent to act is given, not arranged alongside it
An incoming director must already hold a director ID — the free, lifetime identifier issued through ABRS via myGovID — before they can validly consent to the appointment. This is a precondition baked into the appointment itself, not a step that can be backfilled once Form 484 is being prepared. We confirm the director ID exists before the consent is dated; obtaining the ID itself is a self-service ABRS application the individual director completes, not something a company or an advisory firm applies for on their behalf.
The registered office needs a real address, generally open to the public
ASIC requires the registered office to be a physical Australian address — not a PO box — and, unless a registered agent's address satisfies the requirement on the company's behalf, the office generally needs to be accessible to the public for at least three hours between 9am and 5pm each business day. Nominating a third party's address (an accountant's office, a registered agent's premises) requires that occupier's written consent before the address goes on the form.
A resignation or removal can leave a company below its minimum director count
A proprietary company ordinarily needs at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Australia, and the constitution or replaceable rules may set a higher minimum. A resignation processed without checking that count first can leave the company non-compliant on paper the moment Form 484 goes in, which is a separate problem from the 28-day filing deadline itself.
What your registered BAS or tax agent receives from us
- A change record for each event — registered-office move or officeholder appointment/cessation — dated to when it actually took effect, not when it was reported to us.
- Confirmation the incoming director's director ID exists and is valid, checked before the consent-to-act is dated.
- The written consent to act, held on file — this stays with the company's own records, not lodged with ASIC.
- Written consent from the occupier of any third-party address being nominated as the new registered office.
- A check against the public-access requirement (physical address, generally open 9am–5pm for at least 3 hours a business day) for any new registered office.
- A minimum-director-count check against the constitution or replaceable rules for any resignation or removal, flagged before lodgement if the count would drop below the required minimum.
