Everything You Need to Know about the Government’s Streamlined Business Registration Service

15 July 2018

Many businesses are aware of the Business Registration Service. The government successfully tested the new service publicly last year, and launched the official service early in July. With this service, you can not only register your business and obtain an Australian business licence online, but take care of your Australian business registration for multiple businesses and tax registrations at the same time. The average time to complete a registration is under 15 minutes.

What is Available through the Business Registration Service?

The Australian Government Business Registration Service allows you to apply for key business and tax registrations in one place. This consolidated service is designed to make it easier to register a new business. To start, you can register for an Australian Business Number, including registering the business name, company, taxes, or AUSkey. You can also register for Goods and Services Tax (GST), Pay As You Go (PAYG) withholding, and other tax registrations.

How Do I Register My Business?

Before you can register a business, you need to obtain an administrator AUSkey, which allows you to access and manage all registrations. You can also obtain an additional AUSkey for business associates, your accountant, or your tax agent.

After you have an AUSkey, you can begin the registration process. Later, you can resume the process or check the status.

Why Would I Need Help?

Since launching the service, many businesses have used the service to register and obtain business licences. The Australian government has stated they have continued to take feedback into account and make the service better, adding improvements to payment screens, links to information on registrations and licences, and enabling notification emails.

While the goal is to make setting up a business easier for Australians, it is often difficult to determine the most appropriate type of business, and many new business owners find it far easier and less stressful to work with a knowledgeable professional to register for, and obtain, a business licence. Because the type of business you register as has implications for how you pay tax, it is important to get this right from the beginning.

If you are considering starting a new business, remember that Scott Partners is here to help, and you can contact us at any time.

We can work with you through the entire process, from determining the type of business to registering for the Australian business licence and ensuring that you have registered for all applicable types of taxes.

If you have already registered, we are happy to review your registration to be sure there are no problems down the road.

Call Scott Partners today for help with your business registration.