Close down a co-operative
Closure
Your co-operative might close down:
- as your voluntary decision
- at our directive
- due to a Supreme Court order.
Voluntary
You can choose to close a co-operative if:
- your creditors choose to issue a voluntary closure
- the members pass a special resolution to close by a special postal ballot.
If members choose to close the co-operative:
- fill out and submit a draft statement form and fee
- wait for us to approve it
- give notice of the special postal ballot to members.
Once you’ve had your special postal ballot, we will send you:
- a registration form for the special resolution
- a statutory declaration form to confirm the change.
Fill out and submit both forms and fees to us to register the special resolution.
Involuntary
We can close your co-operative if it stops meeting its requirements. This could be because:
- you have fewer than 5 members
- you haven’t started operating even though you’ve been registered for 12 months
- you haven’t had enough directors to form a quorum at a board meeting for more than 1 month
- you have suspended your operations for more than 6 months
- your rules specify a duration for the co-operative to exist, and this has expired.
We can also close your co-operative if:
- you obtained your registration by mistake or fraud
- your co-operative exists for an illegal purpose
- the co-operative has wilfully broken the law or your own rules (despite our warnings)
- your rules don’t set out any active membership provisions (despite our warnings)
- closure would best serve the members’, creditors’ or public interest.
We will look at the evidence to decide if any of these situations apply. If we decide to close a co-operative, we will:
- appoint a liquidator
- issue you a certificate of closure.
Deregistration
After you close, we deregister you as a co-operative. This means that you can no longer operate in Queensland.
You may voluntarily deregister the co-operative. Email us for a copy of Co-operative Form 34 - Application for voluntary deregistration of a co-operative.