Australian ABN registration for non‑resident and overseas businesses.

Yes. A non-resident business may be entitled to an ABN if it is carrying on an enterprise in Australia, or making supplies connected with Australia’s indirect tax zone — selling goods into Australia through a marketplace or your own store commonly qualifies. You do not need to live in Australia or set up an Australian company to hold one. The ATO does check overseas applicants’ identity documents closely, and that extra scrutiny is where an experienced agent makes the difference.

Generally yes. A foreign company — an LLC, Ltd, GmbH, Pte Ltd or equivalent — can hold an ABN and GST registration in its own right. Setting up an Australian subsidiary is a separate decision with its own tax and compliance consequences, and it is rarely required simply to sell into the Australian market.

Yes. An individual carrying on an enterprise that involves Australia can apply for an ABN as a sole trader from anywhere in the world. The application is made in your own name, and the identity requirements are usually simpler than for a company — typically a certified copy of your passport plus supporting documents.

An ABN is the 11-digit public number that identifies your business to the ATO, customs and your customers. A TFN is your entity’s private tax file number, used for income tax. GST registration is a separate registration that may be required once your Australian turnover reaches the threshold. An ACN belongs only to companies incorporated in Australia — a foreign business selling into Australia usually needs an ABN, often GST, sometimes a TFN, and no ACN at all.

Applications from overseas are reviewed manually by the ATO, so they are never instant. Once a complete application with correctly certified identity documents is lodged, allow several weeks — around a month is common, and busy periods can stretch longer. Applications lodged incomplete or with the wrong document certification go to the back of the queue, which is why most of our work happens before lodgement. As your registered agent we track the application and answer ATO queries directly.

Not for the ABN itself. A foreign business can hold an ABN with an overseas address and no Australian resident director. Registering a foreign company as a branch with ASIC (an ARBN), or incorporating locally, are different processes with local-representation requirements — if your plans put you in that territory, we will say so before you spend anything.

For a company: evidence of incorporation (such as a certificate of incorporation or registry extract) and certified identity documents for the people behind the business. For a sole trader: certified identity documents, usually starting with your passport. Documents not in English need a certified translation. Nothing is uploaded on this page — after you accept a fixed fee, we send a precise checklist with exact certification instructions, so you only do it once.

Registration may be required once your GST turnover from sales connected with Australia reaches A$75,000 in any 12-month period — and the test looks forward, not just backward. Below the threshold, registering voluntarily can still pay: with standard GST registration and the right import setup, the 10% GST paid on stock at the border may be claimable back. We confirm which applies to you before quoting.

Often only partly. Marketplaces are responsible for GST on certain sales made through their platforms, but that does not necessarily cover every sale you make, and it does nothing about the GST you pay when importing your own stock. Many sellers find the platform handles one piece of the picture and quietly leaves the rest — including money that was claimable — with them.

Simplified GST registration issues an ARN rather than an ABN. It is quick and needs no identity documents, but it does not let you claim GST credits — including import GST — and it does not give you an ABN to quote to suppliers, platforms or customs. Sellers who import goods into Australia are usually better off with an ABN plus standard GST registration. If simplified registration genuinely fits your situation better, we will tell you so.

A fixed fee, agreed before we start and before anything is lodged. Applying through this page costs nothing: we review your answers, confirm which registrations you need — and which you don’t — and send a written fixed-fee proposal, usually within one business day. No lodgement and no fee happen until you accept it.

No — and we think you should know the difference. Epic Tax is a registered tax agent (26121271), not the government registry, and you can always apply to the Australian Business Register yourself for free. Non-resident applications, however, go through manual identity review, where preparation quality decides whether registration takes weeks or months. Engaging a registered agent means the application is prepared to ATO requirements, lodged once, and followed up by someone the ATO deals with daily.