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An Australian company is, almost always, a proprietary company limited by shares, a Pty Ltd, on the companies register that ASIC, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, keeps under the Corporations Act 2001. On registration it receives its nine-digit Australian Company Number (ACN) and a certificate with its date of registration. Founders use it to trade with Australian customers, employ staff and sign leases and contracts in a local name, and overseas groups use it as their Australian subsidiary. Regulated activities sit on top of the company rather than inside it: a remittance or virtual asset business, for instance, needs its own registration with AUSTRAC, which administers the anti-money laundering rules, before it starts.
| Form | Board and officers | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Proprietary company (Pty Ltd) | One director or more, at least one ordinarily resident in Australia; a secretary is optional; no more than 50 shareholders who are not employees | Founders, family businesses and subsidiaries of foreign groups that do not offer shares to the public |
| Public company (Ltd) | Three directors or more, at least two ordinarily resident in Australia, and a resident secretary; registered office open to the public at set hours | Companies raising money from the public |
Sole traders, partnerships and trusts are run without registering a company. The registration of a Pty Ltd, step by step, is on our page on company registration in Australia.
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Company tax | 25% for a base rate entity; 30% for every other company |
| Base rate entity | A company whose aggregated turnover, including that of connected and affiliated entities anywhere, stays below AUD 50 million, and whose passive income (dividends, rent, royalties, most interest, net capital gains) is at most 80% of its assessable income; each income year is tested on its own |
| Tax residence | Incorporation in Australia makes the company resident, so its worldwide income is generally taxable there |
| GST | 10% on most goods and services; a company must register when its GST turnover hits AUD 75,000, and needs an ABN to do so |
| Duty on share transfers | Set by each state and territory; New South Wales abolished duty on transfers of marketable securities from 1 July 2016 and keeps landholder duty for companies holding New South Wales land worth AUD 2 million or more |
| Tax treaties | About 46 comprehensive income tax treaties, most of them modified by the OECD Multilateral Instrument |
The turnover test catches foreign groups: an Australian subsidiary with small sales of its own can still pay 30% when its group’s aggregated turnover reaches AUD 50 million.
Shareholders may be individuals or companies anywhere in the world, with no residency or nationality test. The board is different: under section 201A of the Corporations Act a Pty Ltd always needs a director whose ordinary residence is in Australia, with no exemption and no bond to replace one. Directors are individuals aged 18 or over, and nobody may be appointed without a director identification number, which each person applies for in person, and someone living abroad without Australian identity documents uses the paper application NAT 75433. The company also needs a registered office at a street address in Australia, never a PO box.
Australia has no beneficial ownership register for unlisted companies; the Government announced in October 2025 that it will build one, with policy work from early 2027. ASIC records the legal members, the register of members must flag any shares a member does not hold beneficially, and banks and other reporting entities find out privately, under AUSTRAC rules, who holds or controls 25% or more.
If no director of yours ordinarily resides in Australia, we can arrange a resident director, which Australian law allows on these terms: the person holds a director ID and owes every duty the Corporations Act places on directors, exactly as any other director would, while shares a nominee holds on your behalf appear in the register of members flagged as not beneficially held.
Before opening a company account, an Australian bank has to establish who holds or controls a quarter or more of the company, under the anti-money laundering rules AUSTRAC administers, so owners should expect to identify the individuals at the top of any ownership chain. If the company already has an account, that account is the company’s and survives a sale of its shares, but the bank looks again at the new owners and directors and may keep the account, ask for more or close it. How Australian banks treat companies owned from overseas is covered on our page on bank accounts for Australian companies.
A new Pty Ltd is the natural choice when nothing depends on the company’s age. Registration is not slow by the Government’s own estimate, and the company starts with your name, your shareholders and no earlier officeholders in its list of lodged documents.
An existing company is worth buying when its date of registration has a concrete use, for a tender, a contract or a counterparty asking how long the company has existed, because no later filing can change that date. It still needs director IDs for incoming directors and a resident director, pays tax exactly as a new company does, and holds no licence or AUSTRAC registration. The transfer and the checks before buying are on our page on shelf companies in Australia.
For what an older company can and cannot prove in any country, see our guide to aged shelf companies.
Our role is to register a new Pty Ltd or hand over an existing one, prepare the registration or share transfer documents and the notices to ASIC, and help with the bank application, including an introduction where we have a working contact at a bank that suits you; whether an account is opened is for the bank alone.
You can buy the shares of a company that holds an AUSTRAC registration, but the registration does not simply follow the shares. A remittance or virtual asset service provider may not begin those services before AUSTRAC approves its registration, and once registered it has 14 days to report new beneficial owners or key personnel. The regulator therefore learns of the change of control. A never-traded shelf company holds no registration at all.
Not for unlisted companies. The Government announced on 15 October 2025 that it will build a public register, run alongside ASIC, with detailed policy work starting in early 2027, and separate disclosure rules for entities listed on Australian markets begin on 4 December 2026. Today ASIC holds the legal members, the register of members flags non-beneficial holdings, and banks identify beneficial owners privately.
The ACN is the nine-digit number ASIC gives a company when it registers, and it identifies the company itself. The ABN is the eleven-digit Australian Business Number from the Australian Business Register, which GST registration requires; every ASIC company is entitled to one but must apply for it. In many cases the ABN is the ACN preceded by two further digits.
Often, yes. A small proprietary company is normally spared annual financial reports, but not when it is controlled by a foreign company. The exceptions are a parent registered with ASIC that lodges consolidated reports covering the subsidiary, and relief granted by ASIC. A Pty Ltd owned by an overseas individual, rather than a foreign company, is not caught by this rule.
No. A company incorporated in Australia is an Australian tax resident from the day it is registered, whoever owns it and wherever its directors meet, and it is generally taxed on its worldwide income at 25% or 30%. It also needs a resident director and a local registered office, so it is an onshore vehicle for business done in or through Australia.
Planning an Australian company? Tell us where the shareholders and directors live and whether you would start fresh or take over an existing Pty Ltd, and we will reply with what each option needs. Reach us through our contact page, or on Telegram or WhatsApp at +48 663 247 166.