What penalties can my corporation face if it doesn't keep its individuals-with-significant-control register up to date?

The Business Corporations Act treats the transparency register as a real compliance obligation, not a paperwork suggestion, and makes it an offence to fail to maintain an accurate individuals-with-significant-control register, or to knowingly record false or misleading information in it. That exposes both the corporation and the individuals responsible, such as directors or officers who knew or ought to have known about the failure, to consequences under the Act, which can include fines, and in more serious cases, personal consequences for the individuals involved.

Beyond the formal penalties, an out-of-date or missing ISC register is also the kind of gap that tends to surface at exactly the wrong moment — during due diligence for a sale, a financing transaction, or a request from a regulator or law enforcement — and can slow down or complicate a deal that would otherwise move smoothly.

Because the specific penalty amounts and how enforcement plays out depend on the circumstances, the practical takeaway is the same regardless: treat the register as something to build and update as part of ordinary annual corporate housekeeping, not something to assemble hurriedly when someone finally asks for it.