Cost Recovery Policy

In December 2002, the Australian Government adopted a formal cost recovery policy to improve the consistency, transparency and accountability of Commonwealth cost recovery arrangements and promote the efficient allocation of resources.

Cost recovery broadly encompasses fees and charges related to the provision of government goods and services (including regulation) to the private and other non-government sectors of the economy.

The policy applies to all agencies covered by the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act).

Under the Government's Cost Recovery Policy, the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) has adopted a formal cost recovery regime in respect of fees and charges payable under the Bankruptcy Act and related legislation, effective from 1 July 2006.

AFSA has legal authority through the Bankruptcy Act 1966 and associated Acts to impose fees and charges and policy authority to cost recover its activities. AFSA also has legal authority to recover its costs, charges and expenses incurred in connection with the Official Trustee’s performance or duties under the Proceeds of Crime Act 1987 and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Please note that the following PDFs are hosted on the National Library of Australia web archive.

AFSA has reviewed its fees and charges in accordance with that policy, resulting in the following Cost Recovery Implementation Statements (CRIS):

• February 2005 - the initial review, for consideration by government in the 2005-2006 Budget
• June 2006 - immediately prior to the 1 July 2006 introduction in AFSA of the changed fees and charges regime, to verify that fee levels accurately reflected costs
• April 2007 - as a result of the Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment (Debt Agreements) Act 2007 which introduced a new registration system for debt agreement administrators
• June 2007 - as a result of the Bankruptcy (Estate Charges) Amendment Act 2007 which will, from 1 July 2007, extend the realisations charge and interest charge to apply to moneys recovered in debt agreements
• June 2008 - as a result of the first biennial review of fees and charges
• June 2010 - as a result of a second biennial review · December 2010 - as a result of the Government's decision to impose a fee for lodging a debt agreement proposal with the Official Receiver
• December 2010 - as a result of the Government's decision to impose a fee for lodging a debt agreement proposal with the Official Receiver
• June 2011 - as a result of the need to increase the realisation charge and implement a new advertising fee for creditor’s meetings on AFSA’s website
• June 2013 - as a result of a third biennial review
• June 2013 with updates on the 1 April 2014 - as a result of a third biennial review and then amended for 1 April 2014 - as a result of the personal insolvency fees increase to fully recover the costs of administering personal insolvencies
• May 2015 - as a result of the fourth biennial review.

Fees and charges have been determined after consultation with stakeholders, via a Cost Recovery Reference Group comprising representatives from various creditor associations, registered trustees, the Law Council of Australia, debt agreement administrators and financial counsellors.

The net cost for AFSA’s insolvency programme can be represented by the appropriation funding AFSA receives. Refer to Portfolio Budget Statements.

Notification of future reviews will be posted on AFSA’s website.

Information on the cost recovery regime operating for the Personal Property Securities Register is available on the Fees web page of the Personal Property Securities website.

Cost Recovery Implementation Statement

The latest AFSA Cost Recovery Implementation Statement (CRIS) demonstrates the cost recovery model for insolvency activities.

The fees and charges outlined in the CRIS were approved by the Attorney-General and came into effect on 1 July 2015.

View the statement 

Please refer to the fees and charges section for details on AFSA’s current insolvency fees and charges.