Australia, also known as the Land Down Under is popularly referred to as the largest island and smallest continent in the world. In actual fact, it’s more of a continent due to certain conditions that it meets. The country is officially known as the Commonwealth of Australia and has a population of 24.6 million (2017 estimate). Let discuss in detail about how to register a company Australia as foreign investor?
The country’s economy relies on various sources such as mining, manufacturing, tourism, education, financial services and agriculture. The Australian currency is the Australian Dollar (AUD).
Types of companies in Australia
There are many types of business structures to choose from when deciding to incorporate a company. Below are some of the types that are available.
For a private company, the shares of the company are not freely transferable while for a public company the shares can be traded and transferred without restriction.
How to register a limited liability company in Australia
The Ease of Doing Business report ranks Australia quite high at 15 out of 190 countries. The following is the process to register a limited liability company in Australia –
The applicant will need to complete the application form from ASIC which is the Application for Registration as an Australian company and pay the fees of AUD457. This is how to register a company Australia as first step.
Any person who is appointed to be a director or become a shareholder of the company must have consented in writing to do so. At least one director or at least one company secretary must be a resident of Australia. The registered address of the company must also be an Australian address.
The company is allowed to adopt its own company constitution or rely on the Replaceable Rules in the Corporations Act 2001. The company will be issued a certificate of incorporation upon completion of this whole process which normally takes 1 day.
If the company’s yearly turnover is AUD75, 000, it must register for the Goods & Service Tax (GST) by obtaining an 11 digit ABN. Those companies whose annual turnover which is lower than the threshold of AUD 75, 000 may also choose to register for GST. The going rate for GST in Australia is 10%.
This application can be done online or by a submission of hard copies to the ATO. For the online submission, you can get the ABN at the end of the process. As for the hard copy submission, the ATO will mail the ABN within 28 days.
The company must also deduct taxes from the employee’s salary under the Pay-As-You-Go scheme. The company must also provide a payment summary and subscribe to the employee superannuation. The company must then report and issue the payment to the ATO.
After you have established your company, you would need to ensure the following –
