Companies

When you register a company with Shelfcom, you pay just the one price of $930.00 this includes, the ASIC registration fee, our service fee, and GST. There are no hidden extras.

We pride ourselves on being able to offer you our all-inclusive comprehensive service, which means you pay just the one price for everything that you need to register your new company.

Company registrations are usually completed within 24 hours of receipt of the fully completed form and payment being received. If you registration is urgent please contact us as applications can be expedited.

New company registrations flagged for manual approval with ASIC can take longer if you are requesting a name that is not in the Macquarie Dictionary, or your chosen name is identical to your registered business name.

To order a new company online, simply click here, complete the company order form, including the payment details and email this back to [email protected]

Once we receive your order, we review the information that you have provided to us and if we have any queries about your order or require any further information, we will contact you as soon as possible.

Upon registration of your company you will receive a PDF copy of the Certificate of Registration, the company register documents, and constitution for your records. If requested, we also prepare the company register folder with all the documents bound, presented and tagged ready for signing.

If your company is not a standard Pty Ltd company, and you have special requirements or amendments to make to the constitution, we recommend that you contact us directly. If you are unsure about whether your company is a standard Pty Ltd company, then please also contact us directly to discuss your new company registration before proceeding.

Shelfcom provides an incorporation service for all types of Australian company structures, including:

• Proprietary Limited (Pty Ltd) Companies
  - This includes New Company Registrations
• Superannuation Trustee Companies
• Public (Limited) Companies
• Companies Limited by Guarantee
• Specialist Companies

If you require a Public (Limited) Company, Company Limited by Guarantee or a Specialist Company, please contact us to discuss your new company registration before proceeding.

Yes, all you need to do is let us know that your company is a special-purpose superannuation trustee company by selecting the tick box on our order form. If you are unsure, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to discuss this with you.

The information that you will need to provide to register a new company includes the following:

• Company Name
• Registered office address for the company. This is the address where ASIC will send all correspondence. This cannot be a PO Box address, but it can be your accountant or tax agent’s office address providing you have their consent.
• Principal place of business is the address from which the company carries on business.
• Officeholders’ details - Director ID for each Director and full name, residential address, date of birth and town and State of birth, or country of birth if not in Australia, for all officeholders.
• Members’/Shareholders’ details - full name, address, and number, class and value of shares.

You need to choose a name that is not already a registered company or business name, please click here to use a free online search. You may be able to register a company that is identical to your existing business name if certain criteria are met. After checking and you are still unsure about the name availability, please contact us and we can check this for you.

There are certain words and phrases that cannot be used in a company name without first seeking written ministerial consent, and these words include; ‘ANZAC’, ‘Bank’, ‘Chamber of Commerce’, ‘Chartered’, ‘Trust’, and ‘University’. You also cannot use words suggesting a misleading connection with the government, the Royal Family, or an ex-servicemen’s organisation.

It is your responsibility to be aware of any problems that might arise from registering a new company that is identical or similar to another company, business name, or trademark registered or pending registration. If you are unsure, please conduct your own checks on www.asic.gov.au or IP Australia's website.

Anyone can register an Australian company, as long as all directors and secretaries are persons who are eighteen years or older and not bankrupt.

A Pty Ltd company must have at least one director. While we do recommend that you have a secretary, this is not an ASIC requirement. At least one director and secretary (if any) must ordinarily reside in Australia.

In relation to a public company, you must have at least three directors and one secretary. A minimum of two directors and one secretary must ordinarily reside in Australia. All other directors and secretaries can live outside of Australia.

Yes, you can form a Pty Ltd company with just one person. This person can act as the sole director, secretary, public officer, and be the sole shareholder of the company as well.

The minimum number of shareholders required for a Pty Ltd company is at least one, with a maximum of no more than fifty non-employee shareholders (members).

A public company must have at least one shareholder, and the number of shareholders is unlimited.

The shareholders can be a person or another company, and there is no such requirement that they need to be an Australian resident or company registered in Australia, which means all of the shareholders can reside or be registered outside of Australia.

You should seek advice from your accountant if you are unsure of how many shares you should issue upon the incorporation of your company, and who should be the beneficial owner/s of these shares.

You can set up a company with one ordinary share valued at $1.00, or issue a hundred, or a thousand shares, and so on. There is also the option of issuing different classes of shares such as, A, B, C, etc., and outlining the different rights attached to each class.

An individual, another company, or the trustee(s) of a trust can hold the shares in a company. These shares are either, beneficially held or held on trust for another individual, company, or as trustee for a trust.

Beneficially held means that the owner of the shares is entitled to the direct benefit from the shares, and this could include the entitlements to payments in relation to any dividends.

Non-beneficially held means the member holds the shares for the benefit of someone else.

ASIC has summarised the basic role of a director:

• Be honest and careful in your dealings at all times.
• Know what your company is doing.
• Take extra care if your company is operating a business because you may be handling other people’s money.
• Make sure that your company can pay its debts on time.
• See that your company keeps proper financial records.
• Act in the company’s best interests, even if this may not be in your own interests, and even though you may have set up the company just for personal or taxation reasons, and
• Use any information you get through your position properly and in the best interests of the company.

A company secretary’s responsibilities include the following:

• The establishment and maintenance of the company’s register documents.
• Organise directors and members’ meetings and prepare the subsequent minutes of the meeting.
• Ensure that the company’s accounting records are maintained and distributed as necessary.
• Check that the company’s details are correct on the annual company statement and arrange payment by the due date.
• Ensure that the company notifies ASIC of changes affecting the company.

The members own the company and make decisions about the company by passing resolutions usually at a meeting.

As a member, you are not liable for the company’s debts. Your only financial obligation is to pay the company any amount unpaid on your shares if you are, called on to do so.

The public officer is usually the person who will be the main contact for the ATO (Australian Taxation Office) in relation to the company’s tax affairs.

A public officer must be, appointed within three months of the company commencing business or receiving income in Australia.

An ultimate holding company is the company that is, at the top of the chain within a group of companies, and this is determined by control. In essence, for a company to be classed as an ultimate holding company it must be the holding company of another, and must not be a subsidiary of any other company.

• PDF copy of the Certificate of Registration.
• PDF copy of the Company register documents including minutes and resolutions, consents to act, statutory registers, and two copies of the Constitution.
• All documents presented in your own prestigious company register folder, upon request
• Delivery by courier or express post across Australia.

Yes, we do provide you with a Constitution for your company. Our standard Constitution is, maintained and continually updated in accordance with the Corporations Act, by our solicitors at Mellor Olsson Lawyers.

If you would like to order a common seal for your new company, please advise us when providing the Company Order Form. The common seal is optional, and is not a requirement under the Corporations Act 2001 or ASIC, however there is an additional fee for the common seal.

Yes, we definitely can set up your new trust or super fund for you at the same time as we register your new company. Please complete our online order forms or you can download our forms and email these to us upon completion.

If you are unsure or if you have multiple entities to set up and would like to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will make this process as easy as possible for you.

An ABN (Australian Business Number) is, not automatically provided upon registration of your company.

To register your company’s ABN and other tax registrations, click here and follow the online instructions.

This is a unique eight-digit number connected with your company’s ACN. A corporate key is similar to a PIN number for a bank account, and is to keep your company’s information secure. It must be included on some forms that you lodge with ASIC.

ASIC will post this directly to the registered office address within about two to five business days after the company is registered.

If you need to advise ASIC of any changes made to your company, we can prepare and lodge the necessary ASIC forms for a fee depending on the changes.

We accept payment by Visa, MasterCard, and EFT. Payment by cheque is available for approved account clients only.

If you have any queries regarding your account or to arrange payment please contact our office on 08 8231 6661.

If you have no further use for your company and it meets the ASIC voluntary deregistration criteria, then we can definitely assist you with the preparation and lodgement of the required ASIC forms.

It is advisable that before you proceed with deregistering your company that you contact us to discuss your company’s situation.

A director identification number (otherwise known as a "Director ID") is a unique 15-digit identifier given to a director once, irrespective of the number of companies they are a director of now or in the future.
All new Directors (and alternate directors) must apply and obtain a director ID prior to their appointment as a director of any Company.
All current directors (and alternate directors) appointed under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) must have applied and obtained a Director ID by 30 November 2022.

For more information please see our page relating to Director IDs.

To prevent the use of false and fraudulent director identities and involvement in unlawful activities, the Australian Government via Australian Business Registry Services has introduced the requirement for all directors, including directors of corporate trustees of self-managed super funds, to apply for a director ID.

For more information please see our page relating to Director IDs.

Applications must be made by the individual director via the myGovID App, and cannot be undertaken by anyone else on their behalf. Please note that “myGovID” is a different App to “myGov”. Telephone and paper form options are available if the App cannot be downloaded.
Please visit https://www.abrs.gov.au/director-identification-number/apply-director-identification-number for further details on how to set up your myGovID Account.

For more information please see our page relating to Director IDs.