Register a Company for a Client With ASIC

To register a company for your client, collect the officeholder and shareholder details and written consents, settle its rules, then lodge ASIC Form 201. After ASIC issues the ACN, arrange the company’s tax registrations and records.

Company Registration in Australia, Step by Step

Registering a proprietary company creates a separate legal entity for your client. Confirm that a proprietary company limited by shares suits the agreed work before preparing the application.

1. Agree the company type and ownership with your client. Record who will direct the company and who will own its shares.
2. Choose a company name and check its availability against ASIC’s name rules. Alternatively, use the allocated ACN with the company’s legal ending as its name.
3. Collect the details and signed consents listed below. Resolve differences between the client’s answers and identity records before lodgement.
4. Settle the constitution or applicable replaceable rules. Confirm that the share rights match the client’s instructions.
5. Lodge Form 201 through the chosen channel and pay the ASIC fee. Keep the application reference until registration is confirmed.
6. Use the ACN to arrange the company’s tax registrations. Set up its records and confirm the details ASIC has registered.

The Business Registration Service is the official direct online registration route. ASIC processes the application. The service emails the ACN and certificate after registration, while ASIC sends the corporate key to the registered office.

Practices can also use registration software connected to ASIC’s EDGE system. The lodgement response confirms ASIC’s result. Any constitution, minutes or share certificates supplied alongside it depend on the document package you choose. Compare the relevant registration software for practices when selecting that route.

If the online service rejects an address or birthplace, retain the error and application reference. ASIC’s registration guidance explains when to contact ASIC for an alternative application route. Resolve the rejected field before lodging again.

Details and Consents to Collect First

Use a company setup checklist with a named reviewer for every consent and every group of details. The client’s completed form gives you the information to review before you lodge.

Item to collect	What you confirm	Who confirms it before lodgement
Company name and type	Proposed name or ACN naming choice, proprietary status and limitation by shares	Client and supervising accountant
Registered office	Australian street address and written occupier consent if the company will not occupy it	Occupier and preparing staff member
Principal place of business	Physical address where the business operates	Client and preparing staff member
Each director	Full name, former names, residential address, date and place of birth and director ID	Director and identity-checking staff member
Each director’s consent	Signed written consent to act, retained for the company	Director and supervising accountant
Each secretary, if appointed	Personal details and signed written consent to act	Secretary and preparing staff member
Each initial member	Name, address, share class, number of shares and beneficial ownership status	Member or authorised representative and preparing staff member
Each member’s consent	Signed agreement to membership and the shares and payment terms	Member or authorised representative and supervising accountant
Share payments	Amount paid and unpaid on each share agrees with the application	Client and supervising accountant
Company rules	Agreed constitution or recorded decision about replaceable rules	Client and supervising accountant

ASIC’s ASIC’s address requirements requires a physical registered office. A PO Box cannot be used for it. Obtain the occupier’s written consent before using another party’s premises, including your practice’s office.

Each proposed director must apply for their own director ID before appointment under ABRS guidance. Make receipt of the ID a practice checkpoint before registration. The director applies personally, and an existing ID can cover further appointments. Use the director ID guide for the application steps.

Verify each officeholder’s identity and authority through your practice’s client checks. Possessing a director ID does not replace those checks. Confirm that the proposed directors satisfy the appointment rules, including the Australian-resident director requirement for a proprietary company.

Tax Genie’s separate entity registration form collects the details your practice needs to set up a company, trust, partnership or business name. Its company questions collect directors’ personal details and director IDs. Staff can reopen specific sections for client changes, and staff corrections record who changed what and when. Your practice chooses the registration channel and lodges the reviewed details.

Company Constitution or Replaceable Rules

A company constitution sets the company’s internal rules. Most companies can use the Corporations Act’s replaceable rules, a constitution or a combination of both.

The ASIC constitution guidance explains how a constitution replaces selected rules. Any applicable replaceable rule left unchanged continues to operate.

Replaceable rules do not apply to a proprietary company when the same person is its sole director and sole shareholder. The Corporations Act has separate provisions for that situation. Record the choice with reference to sections 135 and 198E of the Corporations Act, then review it when another director or shareholder joins.

When reviewing a company constitution template, examine the clauses that affect your client’s ownership and decision-making. Check share classes and voting rights, dividend rights, share transfers, director appointment and removal, meeting procedures and rights on winding up.

A template with several share classes needs clear rights for each class. A class name alone does not establish a shareholder’s dividend or voting entitlement. Obtain legal advice before editing a free template for family shareholders or outside investors. Keep the final agreed document with the registration file.

ASIC Form 201 and Registration Fees

Form 201 is the application to register an Australian company. An online service collects the application details, so you do not ordinarily send a downloaded PDF alongside it.

For a proprietary company limited by shares, review the application in this order.

1. Enter the proposed name, company type and state or territory of registration. Check the legal ending and any reserved-name details.
2. Enter the registered office and principal place of business. Confirm the occupier consent where required.
3. Enter each proposed director and any secretary. Match their personal details to the reviewed records and retain their signed consents.
4. Enter the share capital and initial members. Record each share class and the shares taken. Add the amounts paid and unpaid and whether each holding is beneficial.
5. Review the applicant details and declarations. Compare the completed application with the client’s instructions before authorising lodgement and payment.

ASIC charges $636 to register an Australian company with share capital. GST does not apply to the statutory fee. The amount comes from ASIC’s corporations fee schedule, using its published registration fee data.

Keep the ASIC fee separate from your practice’s service fee and any document-provider charge. State the GST treatment of each service charge separately in the client’s quote. A document package can add a constitution or company records without changing the underlying ASIC fee.

After registration, save the ACN and certificate. Track delivery of the corporate key to the registered office, with an owner responsible for receiving it. An application payment or lodgement reference alone is insufficient confirmation that the company exists.

The First Registrations After the ACN

Arrange the company’s tax registrations using its own legal name and ACN. A client moving from sole trader to company needs records for the new entity, including a separate ABN where entitled.

• Apply for the company’s ABN after the ACN is issued and confirm its entitlement.
• Arrange the TFN application for the new entity separately from the director’s personal TFN.
• Register for GST when required, including where the applicable current or projected GST turnover test reaches $75,000.
• Register for PAYG withholding before making payments that require withholding, including relevant wages and directors’ payments.
• Arrange the public officer appointment and notify the ATO. The appointment is required within three months of commencing business or deriving income in Australia.

The ATO’s GST registration rules include special cases that require registration regardless of turnover. Use the company’s actual activities when deciding its registrations. The government’s tax registration guide separates the ABN, ACN and withholding obligations.

Link the company to your practice through the ASIC registered agent appointment. Record its annual review date and allocate responsibility for the review statement and fee.

Set up the register of members, initial resolutions or minutes and share certificates. Make the recorded holdings agree with the application and signed member consents. Keep the adopted constitution with those records where the company has one.

For the company bank account, prepare the registration certificate, ACN, ABN where held and directors’ identity documents. Add beneficial-owner details and the authority for the people who will operate the account.

CommBank’s bank’s document checklist asks for company details and identification of directors, beneficial owners and account operators. Its online account requirements also require an ABN and ACN for the relevant company route. The bank makes its own identity checks and sets the documents and attendance needed for the chosen account.

Onboarding the New Company as a Client

Keep the new company’s registration file separate from the director’s personal client file. Store the certificate, signed consents, rules decision or constitution, corporate key and director IDs with appropriate staff access.

Issue or update the engagement letter so the company is named as the client. Identify the person authorised to accept it and specify the registration work and ongoing services your practice will provide.

Review the first company extract against the information collected. Check the legal name and ACN, company type, status, registered office, officeholder names and recorded shareholdings. Compare any mismatch with the lodged application before deciding how to correct it.

ASIC’s register guidance confirms that officeholder addresses no longer appear in company extracts. Check those addresses against your retained application and client records instead.

Before handing over the company file, confirm that the certificate and register agree, all signed consents are retained and the next registration tasks have owners. Give the client the company documents and explain which actions they must complete, including the bank’s identity checks.