The number of insolvencies and winding up applications in Australia have drastically decreased since the introduction of the temporary relief laws to combat the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on businesses.

When comparing July to August 2020 and July to August 2019, winding up applications to ATO have gone down by 89% and court liquidations down by 74%. Similarly, we see that Voluntary Administrations are also down 62% and Voluntary Liquidations by 37%. This has been consistent with ATO’s sympathetic approach to focusing on business support measures rather than recovery procedures.

In August 2020 we also saw a total of 382 formal appointments throughout Australia for Voluntary Liquidation, Court Liquidation and Voluntary Administration. The majority of applications were attributed to New South Wales (188), Victoria (78) and Queensland (58).

Whilst a total of 19 winding up applications were filed with the Court in August 2020, the ATO did not file any winding up applications in July or August 2020. These numbers have remained relatively consistent since the relief laws came into effect, with only a total of seven court applications received by the ATO in April 2020.

Although the ATO has softened its approach within a COVID-19 environment, we may see these trends coming to an end when these relief measures start winding back. Once the temporary insolvency relief measures come to an end many businesses will have to face the harsh reality of dealing with residual debts and the threat of being wound up if they are no longer viable due to the pandemic.

If you would like more information on company liquidations or would like the right advice for dealing with insolvency then please contact Australian Company Liquidations. We are registered company liquidators who offer a FREE 24/7 insolvency hotline for Australian directors seeking expert advice. Please call us on 1800 981 070 now.