How to Start a Business in Australia: The Complete 2026 Checklist

Starting a business is mostly a series of small, sensible decisions made in the right order. Get the order right and the whole thing feels calm. Get it wrong, and you spend the first year unpicking a structure that does not suit you, a name you do not really own, or a software mess that makes every BAS a guessing game. We set up new businesses properly for a living, so here is the honest, plain-English version of how to do it, with the traps we see most flagged along the way.

The steps to start a business, at a glance

Here is the whole journey on one page. Each step is covered in detail below.

You do not have to do all of this alone, and you should not do the tax-advice parts alone. The government's business.gov.au is the official starting point, and we handle the bookkeeping, GST and setup so the foundations are right.

Step 1: Choose your business structure

This is the first real decision, and the one people most often rush. Your structure decides how you are taxed, who is liable if something goes wrong, and how much admin you carry. There are four common options in Australia.

• Sole trader. The simplest and cheapest. You and the business are the same legal person, you report business income in your own tax return, and you keep things lean. The catch is that you are personally liable, so your own assets are exposed if the business owes money.
• Partnership. Two or more people (or entities) running a business together and sharing the income, losses and liability. Cheap to set up, but you are relying on a good partnership agreement and a lot of trust.
• Company. A separate legal entity registered with ASIC. It limits your personal liability, can look more credible to larger clients, and is taxed at the company rate, but it costs more to set up and run, and directors carry real legal duties.
• Trust. A structure where a trustee holds and runs the business for beneficiaries. Often used for asset protection and flexible income distribution, but it is the most complex and the one you least want to set up without advice.

Most people start as a sole trader because it is simple, then move to a company or trust as they grow, hire staff, or want to protect personal assets. There is no single right answer, there is the right answer for your situation. We talk this through with clients and loop in an accountant where tax structuring is involved, because once you are trading it is more work to change. If you are weighing it up, our guides on sole trader vs company and company vs trust go deeper.

Step 3: Name your business (and make sure it is actually yours)

This is where new owners most often get burned, so it is worth slowing down. A business name is not the same as owning a name. Here is the part nobody tells you: registering a business name with ASIC does not give you ownership of it, a trade mark, or the matching website. It just lets you legally trade under it. Three different systems govern three different things, and you want all three lined up before you print a single business card.

Before you fall in love with a name, run these three checks, in this order:

1. Is the name available at ASIC? Search the business names register to make sure it is not already taken or too similar to an existing name. You can do this on ASIC Connect.
2. Is it clear of trade marks? This is the step people skip, and the one that forces an expensive rebrand later. Someone can hold a registered trade mark on a name even if the business name is free, and a trade mark beats a business name. Search IP Australia's free trade mark search before you commit.
3. Is the domain available? Check the website domain is free with a registrar before you register the business name or order branding. There is no point owning a business name if the matching .com.au is gone.

Only when all three are clear do you register the name and buy the domain, ideally on the same day. Do it in the wrong order, buy the domain, fall in love, then discover a trade mark, and you are back to square one with a sunk cost.

Step 4: Register your business name with ASIC

Once your name is clear, you register it, unless you do not need to. You need to register a business name if you trade under any name that is not your own personal name. So:

• A sole trader called Jane Smith trading simply as "Jane Smith" does not need to register a business name.
• The moment Jane trades as "Smith Bookkeeping" or "Bright Finance Co", she does.
• A company that trades under a name different to its registered company name also needs to register that business name.

You register through ASIC Connect, you need an ABN (or to have applied for one), and you choose to register for one year or three years for a set ASIC fee (three years usually works out cheaper per year and saves you a renewal). You will need to renew it to keep it, and ASIC will remind you. Keep that renewal in your calendar, because a lapsed business name can be snapped up by someone else.

Step 5: The compliance to consider

This is the part that feels like admin but quietly protects you. You do not need all of it on day one, but you need to know which apply to you and when.

The two that trip people up are record keeping and super. Records feel optional until the ATO asks and you cannot find anything, and super feels flexible until you miss a deadline and it stops being deductible. Both are routine once a bookkeeper is watching them for you. You can check your licence and permit requirements with the Australian Business Licence and Information Service.

Step 6: The insurance you need, by industry

Insurance is not one-size-fits-all, and some of it is not optional. A few types apply to almost everyone, and then your industry adds its own. This is a high-level guide, not advice on your specific cover, but it will tell you what to ask about.

The non-negotiables are workers compensation (legally required once you have employees) and, for many health and professional services, professional indemnity, because you often cannot register or take on funded work without it. We are not insurance brokers, but because clients ask us constantly, we partner with a specialist so you can compare the right cover for your industry. Start on our business insurance page.

Step 7: Why we recommend Xero

You will be asked to pick accounting software early, and it is one of the few early choices that is genuinely hard to undo once you have a year of data in the wrong place. We set every client up on Xero, and we are honest about why: it is the platform we are certified in and work in exclusively, so we can get it genuinely right rather than roughly right.

In plain terms, here is what it does for a new business:

• Bank feeds. Your transactions flow in automatically, so your books stay close to live instead of being a shoebox you dread at tax time.
• Invoicing and quotes. Send professional invoices, take online payments, and see what is owed to you at a glance.
• GST and BAS built in. Set up correctly, Xero tracks the GST as you go, so your BAS is close to ready rather than a quarterly panic.
• Single Touch Payroll. When you hire, payroll and STP reporting live in the same place, with super and leave handled properly.
• An app for everything. Hundreds of connected apps for receipts, rostering, ecommerce and job management, so the system grows with you.

The real reason, though, is the one we care about: starting on the right system is far easier than untangling the wrong one later. We have cleaned up enough migrations to know. If you are setting up fresh, our Xero configuration service builds it correctly from the start, and if you are moving across from something else, see conversions to Xero.

Step 5 (continued): When and how to register for GST

GST deserves its own moment because the timing catches people out. You must register for GST once your business turns over $75,000 or more over any rolling 12-month period, or once you expect to, and you then have 21 days to do it. The threshold is $150,000 for not-for-profits, and taxi, limousine and ride-sourcing drivers must register from their first dollar. Under $75,000 it is optional.

The trap is that GST turnover is your gross income, not your profit, so you can cross the line sooner than you expect while watching only your bank balance. Register late and the ATO can backdate you, leaving you to pay GST you never charged your customers.

Registering is free. You need an ABN, then you register through ATO Online services, by phone, or through a registered BAS or tax agent who sets up the GST properly at the same time. Our full walkthrough, including choosing cash vs accruals and your reporting cycle, is in how to register for GST in Australia, and the basics are in what is GST.

Step 8: How to nominate a bookkeeper and accountant with the ATO

This step is new to a lot of people, because the ATO changed how it works. You can no longer just hand your details to a bookkeeper or accountant and have them link to your account. Under the ATO's agent nomination process, you have to nominate a new registered BAS or tax agent yourself, first, before they can be authorised. It is a security measure, and it is quick once you know where to click.

Here is how to nominate your agent:

1. Log in to ATO Online services for business with your myID (formerly myGovID) and your Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM) access. If you have not set up myID and RAM yet, that is a one-time step you do first.
2. From the top menu, go to Profile, then Agent details.
3. Select Add under "Nominate an agent" (sometimes shown as the agent nomination feature).
4. Enter your agent's registered agent number (RAN) or search for their practice name to find them, and confirm it is the right one.
5. Submit the nomination, then tell your agent you have done it, because the nomination sits in their system for a limited window for them to accept.

You do this once per agent, so typically once for your bookkeeper or BAS agent and once for your accountant or tax agent. If any of that sounds fiddly, it is the kind of thing we walk clients through on a quick call, and once your agents are nominated, the ongoing lodgement and compliance just run. The official steps are on the ATO's agent nomination process page.

Starting out and want the foundations done right the first time? Book a free call and we will set up your Xero, GST and bookkeeping so your first year is calm instead of a clean-up. See how we work on our systems and processes page.