What is share issues & transfers?
Issues and transfers papered and notified on Form 484 — no authorized-capital ceremony, because Australia abolished it in 1998.
If you've come from a jurisdiction where a company has to raise its "authorised capital" before it can issue more shares, the first thing to unlearn in Australia is that the ceiling doesn't exist. The Company Law Review Act 1998 abolished authorised (nominal) share capital and par value for every Australian company. There is nothing to increase and nothing to file to increase it — a company can issue any number of shares at any time it chooses, subject only to its own constitution or the statutory replaceable rules and the internal approvals they require. The corresponding filing pain in an India-style regime (a fee-bearing Form SH-7 gating how many shares a company may ever issue) simply has no Australian counterpart.
What Australia does require is that ASIC finds out after the fact. Any change to a company's share structure — a new issue, a transfer between holders, a change in the total number of shares on issue — gets notified through Form 484 within 28 days of the event. That is a self-reporting deadline with no processing queue behind it: there is no expedite tier to buy because there is nothing to wait in line for, which also means there is no forgiveness for missing it. Miss the 28 days and the standard late-fee schedule applies — $102 within a month, $428 beyond it (FY26-27 figures, indexed each 1 July) — the same schedule that governs every other late Form 484 lodgement.
Who does what
Prepared and notified through the ASIC registered agent; duty questions, where a state still asks them, go to the adviser.
Who does what
| Your CapEasy team | Share issues & transfers, 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. |
Share issues & transfers in Australia
There is no authorised-capital ceiling to raise, because Australia abolished it in 1998
The Company Law Review Act 1998 removed authorised (nominal) share capital and par value from Australian company law entirely. A company can issue any number of shares it wants at any time, limited only by its constitution or the replaceable rules (Corporations Act s.254A onward) and any pre-emption or shareholder-agreement terms already in place — there is no ceiling filing analogous to a Form SH-7 to lodge first. The only filing obligation is the after-the-fact one: Form 484 within 28 days of the issue, notifying ASIC of the new share structure.
A share issue or transfer goes on Form 484, and the clock starts the day it happens, not the day someone notices
Form 484's share-structure and members-register sections cover both a new share issue and a transfer between existing holders. The 28-day window runs from the date of the event itself — the allotment, or the transfer taking effect — not from when the paperwork gets tidied up. Missing it triggers the standard ASIC late-fee schedule ($102 within one month late, $428 beyond one month, FY26-27 figures under the Corporations (Review Fees) Regulations Sch 2), the same schedule that applies to every other late Form 484 change.
A new director-shareholder still needs a Director ID before anything is finalised, if the issue or transfer brings a new officeholder on
If a share issue or transfer coincides with someone becoming a director, that person must already hold an ABRS Director ID before consenting to the appointment — the ID has to exist first, it cannot be arranged alongside the paperwork. This sits outside the share-transaction mechanics themselves but is a common point where an otherwise-ready Form 484 stalls, so we check for it at intake rather than at lodgement.
Stamp duty on unlisted share transfers is a state question, not an Australia-wide answer
Duty on transfers of unquoted (unlisted) shares has been abolished in some states — confirmed in Victoria, where it was removed from 1 July 2002 — but treatment differs by state and territory and has to be checked against the jurisdiction where the transferring company is registered. We flag every transfer for a state-specific duty check rather than assuming the answer that applies in one state applies everywhere; where the duty position needs to be given as formal tax advice, that call belongs to your registered tax agent.
What your registered BAS or tax agent receives from us
- The Form 484 data set for a share issue or transfer — issuer/transferor and transferee details, share class and quantity, effective date — prepared and notified through your ASIC registered agent.
- A constitution or replaceable-rules check confirming whether pre-emption rights, director-approval requirements, or shareholder-agreement transfer restrictions apply to the specific transaction.
- Draft board-resolution wording authorising the issue or approving the transfer, matched to the powers actually available under the constitution or replaceable rules.
- An updated internal register of members reflecting the new holding, the document ASIC expects the company to maintain in parallel with what it lodges.
- A share certificate drafted for the company to issue to the new or increased holder — a company-issued paper/PDF record, since there is no demat or CHESS holding for Pty Ltd shares.
- A state stamp-duty flag on any transfer, naming the state the company is registered in and whether that state has abolished duty on unquoted-share transfers, routed to your adviser for the formal position.
