This is general operational information, not legal or tax advice. Corpshore Australia works alongside a company's own lawyers and accountants on market entry into Australia; it does not replace them.
What are the first legal steps to establish an Australian presence?
A foreign company entering Australia generally chooses between registering as a foreign company with ASIC, which creates a branch, or incorporating a new Australian proprietary limited company as a subsidiary. Registering as a foreign company means lodging Form 402 with ASIC along with four supporting documents, and ASIC can take up to 28 days to process the application before issuing an Australian Registered Body Number, or ARBN. A registered foreign company must also appoint a local agent who is responsible for the company's obligations in Australia.
Incorporating a subsidiary instead creates a separate Australian company with its own Australian Company Number, its own directors, and its own registered office address in Australia from the date of incorporation, lodged via ASIC Form 201. This is a decision with real tax, liability and governance consequences that a company's own lawyers and accountants need to make, not something to decide from a checklist. What this article can offer is the operational shape of each path, not a recommendation between them.
Do directors need to be Australian residents?
An Australian proprietary company must have at least one director who ordinarily resides in Australia, under section 201A of the Corporations Act 2001. A foreign company that has no existing Australian-resident executive typically needs to either appoint one or engage a resident director service, a decision again best made with legal advice given the duties and liability that come with the role.
Separately, every individual director of an Australian company or a registered foreign company, resident or not, needs a director identification number issued by the Australian Business Registry Services. Directors based overseas complete this through a paper application with certified identity documents rather than the standard online process.
What tax and business registrations are required before trading?
Most businesses operating in Australia need an Australian Business Number, which is free to apply for through the Australian Business Register. Business name registration is a separate step, costing $44 for one year or $102 for three years through ASIC's registration service, and is only needed if trading under a name different from the registered company name.
GST registration becomes compulsory once a business's turnover reaches, or is projected to reach, $75,000 in any 12-month period, with 21 days to register from the point that threshold is met or expected to be met. This is a compliance deadline, not a suggestion, and the ATO can backdate registration with interest and penalties if a business trades past the threshold unregistered. A company's own accountant should confirm the specific GST treatment for its transactions, since B2B reverse-charge rules and cross-border service treatment are fact-specific.
What does an Australian business address requirement actually involve?
A registered Australian company must maintain a registered office address in Australia for the life of the company, declared on the ASIC incorporation form and kept current with ASIC afterwards. A registered foreign company must similarly maintain a company registered office address in Australia. This does not have to be a company's operating premises; many foreign companies use a registered agent or their accountant's address for this purpose while they establish actual operations.
What is involved in opening an Australian business bank account?
Opening an Australian business bank account generally requires the business to already be registered, either as an Australian company with an ACN or as a registered foreign company with an ARBN, along with an ABN and certified identity documents for the account signatories. Major Australian banks apply a 100-point identity verification check, and overseas applicants who cannot attend in person typically complete this through a professional intermediary such as an accountant or lawyer.
This step tends to be the slowest part of setup in practice, since it depends on the ASIC registration being finalised first. Companies planning their entry timeline should sequence bank account setup after incorporation is confirmed, not in parallel with it.
What Fair Work obligations apply once local staff are hired?
Once an Australian subsidiary hires local employees, it is bound by the Fair Work Act 2009 in the same way any Australian employer is, including the 11 National Employment Standards covering matters such as maximum weekly hours, leave entitlements and notice of termination. Most roles will also fall under a Modern Award setting pay rates above the statutory minimum for that industry and occupation, so a single headline minimum wage figure should never be treated as the applicable rate for all roles.
This is the point at which many foreign companies realise incorporation is only the start of the compliance load, not the end of it. Award coverage, payroll tax obligations across different states, and workers' compensation insurance all need to be worked out with an employment lawyer or payroll specialist before the first local employee starts.
What can a staffing and operations partner like Corpshore help stand up, versus what only a company's own advisers can do?
Incorporation, tax registration, contract drafting and employment law compliance are legal and accounting functions that belong with a company's own lawyers and accountants; Corpshore does not perform these and does not present itself as a substitute for them. Once those foundations are in place, or while they are being finalised, Corpshore Australia can help build the operational layer sitting on top: local customer support, back-office processing and technical helpdesk capability that lets a newly entered business start serving Australian customers without first building a full local team from scratch.
This is the practical split worth planning around from day one. Our set-up in Australia and New Zealand guide covers the operational side in more depth, and the Australian provider for global companies page describes how Corpshore fits into a market entry alongside a company's own legal and tax advisers, standing up customer service, back-office processing and helpdesk support while the incorporation and registration work proceeds through the company's own advisers. A discovery call is a reasonable way to scope which parts of the operational layer make sense to bring in first.