Before discussing company registration in Australia, it is necessary to know what a company is. A company is a legalized organization formed to manage a business in Australia.
Companies in Australia are usually called Pty. registered with the ASIC. The most simple form of business in Australia is a sole trader, a person who is the sole owner of a company, authorized to keep all profits after tax but responsible for all losses. The owners and the people who control the company don’t have to be the same person in a company.
A few owners are called shareholders and dictators who control the company’s functioning, whereas company assistants perform the secretarial work for the company.

When can you set up your business?

• You can set up a business with assets in your name and protect these.
• Your income is reasonably high, and you are interested in separating your business from your regular income.
• You can set up a business if you have multiple companies and want these businesses to function separately and independently.
• You have investors and business partners to show a simple structure of ownership.

The shareholder and the director usually register the companies. You are required to sign the forms and certificates. While setting up your company, you will be required to register your company with the ASIC, which costs you around $500 or more. Suppose you will set up a company properly with the correct registration. In that case, it’s an excellent decision to consult an accountant or a service provider so that they can provide accurate advice to you and help you set up your business structure correctly.

What are the advantages of setting up a company?

• Investors prefer companies as it has a clear-cut ownership structure. Another helpful option is that owners can transfer ownership to other investors later.
• Larger businesses usually prefer to deal with Pty companies rather than sole proprietors and traders.
• Companies have to pay taxes at 26%, which means the tax is relatively low as compared to the highest marginal tax rate of 45%

Disadvantages of setting up a company

• Companies usually are pricier to set up than sole trader businesses.
• The reporting requirements are more convoluted than sole traders.

What to do before setting up a company?

• First, you require a company name. Without a proper company name, your brand would never thrive in the market. You must check on ASIC to see if the company name you are interested in is available to be used.
• You need to have a registered office address in Australia.

You must provide the personal details of the director shareholders, such as their names, dates of birth, places of birth, addresses, and so on.

Once your company is ready, you must keep certain vital documents handy for future use. Losing these documents would require you to repeat the same tedious process again.

These are:

• Company registration Australia certificate
• Signed ASIC company setup form
• Company constitution(rulebook of the company)
• Signed Director/shareholder minutes
• Share certificates
• Australian company number
• A corporate key

Once your registration process is over, you are ready! But, if you are running a business, you should also take care of:

• Australian Business Number (ABN)-This unique number is to identify your business with the Australian Taxation Office.
• Tax File Number (TFN) identifies your tax reporting with the ATO and permits you to lodge income tax returns.
• Goods and Services Tax (GST)
• Pay As you Go withholding (PAYG)

For any help regarding these, you can seek our assistance.