Why would I want to renew my business name through TradingAs.com.au and pay more than if I renewed through ASIC?
Generally speaking, you’ll find renewing your ASIC registered business name through TradingAs.com.au easier and more convenient than renewing directly through ASIC, for various reasons including the following -
- Using TradingAs.com.au you don’t need to be in receipt of, nor have available, a business name renewal notice (from ASIC or from elsewhere). Whereas when renewing through ASIC you’ll generally need to have a business name renewal notice to hand (in order to quote an ASIC account number for the business name - unless the business name is specifically linked on the ASIC record to an ABN, which it often isn’t - in which case you’d need to be quote the business name’s linked ABN).
- Using TradingAs.com.au you don’t need to know the business name’s ASIC Account number to renew the business name. Whereas when renewing through ASIC you’ll generally need to know and quote the business name’s ASIC account number for the business name (unless the business name is specifically linked on the ASIC record to an ABN, which it often isn’t - in which case you’d need to be quote the business name’s linked ABN).
- Using TradingAs.com.au you can get your business name renewal payment out of the way as early as you like (whereas with ASIC the first opportunity you have to pay ASIC is 30 days prior to the business name’s Renewal date).
- We, TradingAs.com.au, pro-actively endeavour to diagnose swiftly and fix any problems (including technical ones) which can often arise when undergoing the business name renewal process, and to liaise with ASIC as may be necessary to solve such problems. Whereas when dealing with ASIC directly, the onus is on the User to diagnose any such problems and interpret any associated error messages and to liaise with ASIC regarding any such problems and error messages.
- Using TradingAs.com.au you’ll receive a permanent PDF copy of the renewed Certificate of Registration attached to an email (whereas when renewing through ASIC you’ll only get a link for downloading the Certificate and the link expires after 30 days).
- Using TradingAs.com.au you may pay for your business name renewal via PayPal (which you can’t do when renewing through ASIC).
- Using TradingAs.com.au you may pay for your business name renewal via Amex (which you can’t do when renewing through ASIC).
- Using TradingAs.com.au you may pay for your business name renewal via Diners Card (which you can’t do when renewing through ASIC).
- The Tradingas.com.au website is always available 24/7 including weekends (whereas the ASIC service is often unavailable for both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance - see Example ASIC Scheduled Service Interruption Notice and Example ASIC Unscheduled Service Interruption Notice ).
- The Tradingas.com.au website and service has direct email support, via mail@tradingas.com.au (whereas ASIC instead have one of those annoying online form based things - see this screen grab of it ).
- The Tradingas.com.au website has direct phone support, via 1300 653 373 without long recorded messages and without the need to select options and the ability to leave a call back message when out of hours etc. (whereas the ASIC helpline - 1300 300 630 - has long recorded messages, many options to select, long wait times, and no opportunity to leave a call back message - for example, here’s what happened when we called the ASIC helpline on Friday 13 September 2019 at 12:10pm to make a business name renewal enquiry - recorded message, then Option 2, then Option 2, then Option 4, then various lengthy recorded messages, then a message saying “we are currently experiencing very high call volumes and that it may take up to 30 minutes to answer your call”).
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When renewing via TradingAs.com.au you can give a freehand instruction to TradingAs.com.au also to do, at no extra cost, things like address updates and ABN linkups. Whereas when renewing with ASIC, address updates and ABN linkups must be done separately from the renewal process and via ‘ASIC Connect’ which are complicated, time consuming and difficult processes for untrained users involving -
- Creating an ASIC Connect Account (see this 7 page ASIC instructional document entitled "How to sign up for an ASIC Connect account": http://download.asic.gov.au/media/2112519/bn_user_guide_sign.pdf
- Obtaining an ASIC Key (see this ASIC webpage entitled "Requesting an ASIC Key": https://asic.gov.au/online-services/online-keys/asic-key/requesting-an-asic-key/ )
- Linking the business name to an ASIC Connect Account (see this 8 page ASIC instructional document entitled 'How to link a business to your ASIC Connect Account: http://download.asic.gov.au/media/2919974/user_guide_link.pdf )
- Updating an address (see this 4 minute ASIC YouTube video entitled "How to update your business address": https://youtu.be/835qngkkOsA
- Linking an ABN (see this ASIC webpage entitled "Add ABN for business name holder": https://asic.gov.au/for-business/updating-your-business-name-details/how-to-update-business-name-details/add-abn-for-business-name-holder/ )