New Zealand companies
Key points:
- A New Zealand company that wants to do business in Australia must register as a foreign company.
- Some information about those companies is automatically transferred from the New Zealand Companies Office to ASIC.
- This means they do not have to lodge some forms that other foreign companies do.
Registering a New Zealand company
A company that is registered in New Zealand is considered to be a foreign company in Australia. Like any foreign company, a New Zealand company must be registered with ASIC to conduct business in Australia.
Register a foreign company in Australia
Obligations of a New Zealand company
In general, as a New Zealand company, you will have the same obligations as any other foreign company:
Obligations of foreign companies
The difference is that New Zealand companies do not have to notify ASIC of certain changes.
Notification requirements
As a foreign registered company, you must tell us about changes to your company. Some of these changes are updated automatically on Australia’s company register once you update them on New Zealand’s company register. You will need to notify us of other changes.
Documents you do not have to lodge
There are some documents that you do not have to lodge. This is because of a formal arrangement called the Australia-New Zealand mutual recognition regime.
This arrangement is between ASIC and the New Zealand Companies Office (NZCO) which is responsible for managing New Zealand's companies register.
The arrangement allows for some information lodged with NZCO to be automatically transferred to ASIC and updated on the Australian register.
Information that is automatically transferred includes:
- change of address of registered office in place of incorporation
- cessation of director
- change of name or address of director
- change to your constitution
- notice of winding up, dissolution or deregistration of company in place of origin
- financial statements such as profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statements (if all statements have been given to NZCO).
This means you do not need to lodge forms to notify us of these changes.
Documents you must lodge
For all other changes, you will have the same notification and lodgement responsibilities as other foreign companies:
Obligations of registered foreign companies
These include:
Change of registered office address or office hours of registered office in Australia:
Form 489 Notification of change of registered office or office hours of a registered body
Changes to your local agent:
Form 404 Notification of change to agent of a foreign company
Changes to directors:
Form 490 Notification of change to directors of a registered body
Change of company name:
Form 409 Notification of change of details of a foreign company
Information about your finances unless these have been given to NZCO:
Form 405 Statement to verify financial statements of a foreign company
Form 406 Annual return of a foreign company
Stopping doing business in Australia: