New Zealand

Starting a Business in

New Zealand

Listed below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles an entrepreneur must overcome in order to incorporate and register a new firm, along with their associated time and set-up costs.  It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with up to 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income (GNI).

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standardized Company

  • Legal Form: Limited Liability Company
  • City: Auckland

About This Topic

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Apply for registration with the Companies Office online ( including IRD number, and register for GST)

To reserve a company name online, promoters can visit the New Zealand Companies Office Web site (www.companies.govt.nz). A company cannot reserve a company name with the Companies Office that is identical or almost identical to an existing New Zealand company name. The reserved name is available for registration for 20 working days. The applicant can then go back online and apply for the company to be registered by completing forms on company details (such as names of shareholders and directors and company addresses and address of communication) and pay the registration fee using a credit card or an account set up with the Companies Office. When the application is processed, the founder will receive a notification by email along with the appropriate director and shareholder consent forms, which are generated by the Companies Office. The applicant must then fax the signed director and shareholder consent forms within 20 working days, after which the application will expire. The certificate of incorporation will be issued via email in a few minutes when the last consent form is accepted.

To be incorporated under the Companies Act 1993, a company must have a name that has been reserved by the Registrar of Companies, at least one share, at least one shareholder, at least one director, a registered office, and an address for service. A company is not legally required to have a constitution. If the company has a constitution, it is generally filed at the time of incorporation. However, notice of the adoption of the constitution does not have to be filed until 10 working days after the constitution is adopted.

Promoters can apply online for a company IRD ( Inland Revenue Department) number and register for GST ( Good and Service Tax) at the same time as incorporating a company online with the New Zealand Companies Office.

To register for GST using the online service, promoters must also apply for a company IRD number.

The list of the information needed when applying for a company IRD number or registering for GST is as follows:
• IRD number – IRD number of each Director and all shareholders that are NZ resident and are individuals, Main Business Activity, Place of Business and Postal Address, Trading Name of the company (if different to the Business Name), Company Contact details, and whether Fringe Benefit Tax for employees is applicable.

• GST number – GST accounting method, frequency of filing returns, business activity code (visit www.businessdescription.co.nz for more information), details of how you would like refunds to be paid, whether the company will be making tax exempt supplies and whether the company will be making imports/exports and ACC uses the business activity code to calculate levies for personal injury cover and residual claims.

Since 1 July 2008 it has been mandatory to file most documents with the Companies Office online. The introduction of this policy has seen the removal of many of the paper based processes that the Companies Office previously supported.


1 day NZD 10.22 name reservation + NZD 153.33 company incorporation
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