An Introduction to Business Name Registration

What is a business name?

A business name is the name that one registers to operate a business. It is not a lawful entity in its own right but the registered nameis a public record of the owners, and it helps customers to identify your company.

How to register a business name?

This is the first question that many business owners ask when they are about to start their business. Along with this,many questions need to be answered before initiating the business name registry process. It is advisable that you get a business lawyer, tax lawyer or public accountant to assist you.

It is fairly simple to register a business name and inmostcases,business owners simply need to fill in a form to provide the relevant information to the government. If you apply for the business name online, you will receive an instant confirmation after you have completed all the necessary steps. The New National Business Names Registration Systems introduced by the Australian government allows businesses to register their name once without having to re-register the name when operating in different states.

Guidelines to get started

The registration process is a very important process, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) administers company registrations throughout Australia.

Here are the guidelines to get started:

The first thing that is required is a unique business name for you registration. It is fairly easy to find out if any other organisation is currently operating under your chosen name and you can access a database of business names through ASIC¢¬¢s ¢¬check business availability¢¬¢ search function on their website.

Once you have got your business name, you will then be asked to select a registration period of either one year ($30 AUD) or three years ($70 AUD), and then you will be required to pay the fee according to your chosen length of registration.

One more important thing to know is that if you are looking to use your business name to invest in countries abroad, then the ownership is partial and the board of directors must comprise of locals from the country that you are trading in.

After your business name registration is successful, you will now require a permit for your business. The type of permits varies in each state and fees might also be very different. The size and nature of your business also determines the amount that you need to pay for the permit. After this final step, you can now move forward and get started with your business!