ASIC registration: A step-by-step guide for 2026

Registering a company in Australia means lodging an application with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). This guide walks you through the entire process — and shows how our platform handles most of the complexity for you.

What is ASIC?

ASIC is the government body responsible for regulating companies, financial markets, and financial services in Australia. When you register a Pty Ltd company, ASIC issues your Australian Company Number (ACN) and keeps a public register of company details.

Before you begin

Before starting the registration process, you'll need to decide on:

1. Your business structure — Not sure whether a Pty Ltd or sole trader is right for you? Our 4-question quiz can help you decide in under 60 seconds.
2. Your company name — It must be unique and not identical or too similar to an existing registered name.
3. Your directors — At least one director who is an Australian resident and at least 18 years old.
4. Share structure — Who the shareholders will be and how shares are allocated.
5. Registered office address — A physical Australian street address (PO Boxes are not permitted by ASIC).

The registration process on our platform

We've simplified the ASIC registration into a guided, step-by-step flow:

Step 1 — Choose your business structure

Answer four yes-or-no questions about your plans for employees, ownership, liability, and investment. The platform will recommend either a sole trader or Pty Ltd structure. You can override the recommendation at any time — and if Sentinel (our AI advisor) thinks you should reconsider, it'll gently suggest an alternative.

Step 2 — Search and reserve your company name

Enter your preferred company name and we'll check availability against existing registered names. If it's available, you can lock it in and move to the next step.

Step 3 — Add your directors

For each director, you'll provide their full legal name, date of birth, place of birth, and residency status. The platform enforces ASIC's rules automatically:

• Directors must be at least 18 years old (Corporations Act 2001, s. 201B)
• At least one director must be an Australian resident (s. 201A)

You can optionally save director details as a "saved entity" for reuse in future applications.

Step 4 — Set your registered office address

Provide a physical Australian street address for your registered office and principal place of business. Our platform will flag and block PO Boxes, GPO Boxes, and Locked Bags — which don't meet ASIC's requirements.

If your principal place of business is the same as your registered office, a single toggle copies the address across.

Step 5 — Add shareholders and share capital

Define your company's shareholding structure. For each shareholder, you specify the share class (Ordinary, Preference, or Redeemable Preference), number of shares, and paid/unpaid amounts.

The platform calculates total capital in real-time and warns you if unpaid capital exceeds $10,000 — since this creates a personal debt obligation from the shareholder to the company.

Step 6 — Review and lodge

A full summary screen shows every detail before you pay and submit. You can go back and edit any section. Once you confirm, the application is lodged with ASIC.

What happens after registration?

Once your company is registered, ASIC will issue your ACN. From there, our platform generates a personalised 90-day compliance roadmap broken into five phases:

Key ASIC requirements to remember

• Your registered office must be a physical Australian street address
• At least one director must be an Australian resident aged 18+
• Your company name must be unique and end with "Pty Ltd"
• You must maintain accurate records and notify ASIC of any changes within 28 days
• An annual review fee is payable to ASIC each year to keep your company registered

New for 2026: Payday Super

If your company is registered on or after 1 July 2026 and you plan to have employees, you'll be subject to the new Payday Super rules. Our platform automatically adds Payday Super setup as a critical task in your compliance roadmap when applicable.