MAKING IT EASIER TO START A NEW BUSINESS

The Australian Government recently commenced public testing of a new service to make registering your business easier and faster.

“We are taking a phased approach to implementing a new business registration service. In this testing (BETA) phase, we want businesses to apply for their registrations and provide feedback on their experience so that we can make the service even better,” the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, the Hon Kelly O’Dwyer MP, said. 

The new business registration service allows businesses to apply for multiple business and tax registrations at the same time online at business.gov.au. This has reduced the average time taken to register for an ABN from over an hour to less than 15 minutes. The service also supports businesses to meet their obligations and avoid applying for registrations that they don’t need.

“By providing a simpler, clearer way to register a business, we hope to save people starting a business an estimated $40 million each year,” Minister O’Dwyer said. 

The Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, the Hon Craig Laundy MP, said the Government was working with the states to join up registration and licensing services across jurisdictions to save business even more time and money.

“We are working with Service NSW to link the business registration service with state systems to help make it faster and easier to start a café or restaurant. We have allocated over $9 million in the 2017–18 Budget to replicate this project for other business sectors, and in other parts of Australia,” Mr Laundy said.

The Government is also making the code for the service publically available so the private sector can seamlessly connect their customers to business registration services and find innovative ways to meet their customers’ specific needs.

Over 35,000 registrations have been submitted since BETA testing began in April 2017.

NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Small Business John Barilaro said the NSW Government is dedicated to reducing red tape and making NSW the easiest state to do business.

“Small Businesses are the backbone of the NSW economy with 710,000 businesses in NSW and employing almost half of the workforce,” Mr Barilaro said.

“We are dedicated to ensuring small businesses can start up easily, be successful and continue to create jobs in our great State.”

NSW Minister for Finance, Services and Property Victor Dominello said the partnership provides small businesses with a 21st century one-stop shop service – dramatically reducing the piles of duplicative paperwork.

“Service NSW’s Easy to Do Business program has made life significantly easier for people wishing to start a café, restaurant or small bar by reducing the time it takes to start a business from 18 months to just three months. It is great to join forces with the Australian Government to slash red tape and duplication for small business,” Mr Dominello said.

The service is being developed collaboratively with the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and the Department of the Treasury.

Further information is available on business.gov.au.