Click ‘Start New Order’ to register your first company with Cleardocs and receive 60% off*

Ercan Barlas, Technical Lead, Project Manager

Cleardocs would like to reward new Company Registration customers for being organised.

With the end of the financial year fast approaching, be organised and get in early to receive your first company registration for only $506.50 including the ASIC fee.  Whether you’re setting up a corporate trustee for your super fund or starting a new business, now is the time to get clicking.

For a limited time only, as a thank you for ordering your first company registration with Cleardocs, you also get to choose one of the following Employment & HR document packages for free:

• HR Policies & Procedures Manual valued at $99
• Standard Employment Contract valued at $99
• Independent Contractor Agreement valued at $99

What’s included in your package?
The documents included in your package are signed off by our top 20 law firm in Maddocks:

• Certificate of Registration - which shows the ACN (Australian Company Number), the date of registration, and the registered company name;
• the company's Constitution;
• Consent to act as Director;
• Consent to act as Secretary;
• Application for shares;
• Minutes of a meeting of directors;
• Share Certificates;
• Consent to act as Public Officer;
• Notice of appointment of Public Officer; and
• an Establishment Kit explaining what to do next.

This limited offer of 60% off on your first company registration plus a complimentary package valued at $99 is valid only till 30 June 2015. In total, you’ll save $187 on two trusted Cleardocs packages, catered to your business needs.

Your Employment & HR document choice can be completed after your Company Registration is ordered.

*This offer only applies to users registering their first company through Cleardocs. 60% off Cleardocs fee. Excludes ASIC fees, printing, binding and courier costs. Offer ends 30 June 2015.

+Cleardocs Thomson Reuters

ASIC fees to rise — Need to register a company? Save a little this financial year

Christopher Balmford, MD

On 1 July 2011, the ASIC fee:

• for registering a Proprietary Limited (Pty Ltd) company will increase from $412 to $426. The Cleardocs fee of $137.50 (inc. GST) will stay the same.
• for reserving a name (or extending a name reservation) for a Proprietary Limited (Pty Ltd) company will increase from $41 to $42. The Cleardocs fee of $22 (inc. GST) will stay the same.

According to ASIC, the fee rises are to reflect an increase in the Consumer Pricing Index (CPI).
Also, there will be a one-off increase to the company annual review fee, to cover the increased costs of the national scheme.

Various other ASIC fees are increasing. You can read more information about the new fees here on ASIC’s website.

Remember you can use Cleardocs to create legal documents, and to register companies with ASIC 24 hours a day, even on weekends.

Registering companies this financial year
Also, remember:

• that company registrations cannot be back-dated. So if you need a new company to exist in this financial year, then you must register it before the end of this financial year; and
• that a company’s Certificate of Incorporation is dated the day that ASIC approves the registration – not the date the application is lodged (if those dates are different).

So if you find yourself with a last minute company to register, then make sure you keep an eye on your order through Cleardocs to make sure the company gets registered. For example, if you lodge a company registration application before 30 June 2011 but ASIC rejects the application, then you will need to make sure you correct and resubmit your application — and that it is successful — on or before 30 June 2011.

Extended helpline hours
We will extend our helpline hours for the last few days of the financial year. We'll answer the helpline:

• on the weekend of Saturday  25 and Sunday 26 June from 9am to 5pm; and
• each day from Monday 27 June until Thursday 30 June until at least 8pm.

Registering a Business Name, Registering a Company Name, Reserving a Company name, and registering a Trade Mark: an explanation

Christopher Balmford, MD

At Cleardocs, we sometimes get calls from people who are confused about company names and business names. They wonder:

• Aren’t they the same?
• What are the differences etc.?

This blog aims to help.

Why do people register names?

People register names, generally, for these 3 purposes:

• to set up a business, a trustee company, or another organisation — by registering a company, which involves choosing a name for the company;
• so as to have a trading name to trade under — for example, as a person, a partnership, or an organisation. They do this by registering a business name; and
• to protect intellectual property so other people can’t use the name. Usually, the best way to do this is by registering a trade mark. But registering a business name or a company name can help, see below.

Where do the various name registrations apply?

The names registrations apply as follows:

• business names are registered, and regulated, on a state and territory specific basis through the relevant government department in each state or territory. You can see a list of each state or territory’s organisation and their website here. You can register the business name online through those websites;
• company’s (and therefore their names) are registered Australia-wide through ASIC, that is the “Australian Securities & Investments Commission”; and
• trade marks are registered Australia-wide through IP Australia.

What names can you register through Cleardocs?

You can use Cleardocs:

• to register a company with the name of your choice, see here;
• to reserve a company name with ASIC, see here; and
• to register a trade mark to protect intellectual property in the name, see here.

How does a registered or reserved company name or registered business name limit other uses of the same name?

Business name registered If someone registers a name as a business name in any state, or territory, say South Australia, then:

• nobody else can get an Australian company with that name in Australia; but
• someone can register the same name as a business name in any other state or territory (apart from South Australia).

So the business name registration in one state or territory:

• blocks the business name in that state or territory (but not in any other state or territory); and
• blocks the company name registration throughout Australia (though the person who owns the business name can arrange to register a company with the same name — by the way, the Cleardocs interface specifically allows for this).

Company name registered If someone registers a company, then nobody else can register the same name as a business name in any other state or territory. That’s it — the company name registration blocks all business name registrations.

Company name reserved If someone reserves a company name, then nobody else can register the same name as a company name while the name is reserved. You can read about this on the ASIC site here. The information on ASIC's site doesn't say whether reserving a name as a company name prevents anyone registering the name as a business name. However, the customer service person at ASIC I spoke with said that it does. You can check that:

• by calling ASIC on 1300 300 630, then pressing 1 and 1 again and speaking to the person there; or
• by calling the government body that registers business names in your state or territory. Their websites are here.

How does registering a trade mark fit in?

If you register a trade mark, then that prevents anyone registering the same trade mark for the same classes of goods and services for which you registered your trade mark.

However, having a trade mark doesn’t stop anyone registering a business name or company name using your trade mark. But your trade mark registration does give you rights that you can protect (or try to protect) by suing a person who uses your trade mark in relation to the classes of goods and services for which you registered your trade mark.

As the explanation on IP Australia’s website puts it, a “. . . trade mark gives the registered owner exclusive use of the trade mark throughout Australia” for the relevant classes of goods and services. So you can use that exclusive right to stop someone from using your trade mark in their company name or business name. There’s useful information about trade marks on the IP Australia website here — IP Australia is the government body that registers trade marks.

You can read more about registering a trade mark through Cleardocs here. Our system help you to choose the classes for which you might consider registering your trade mark.

More information

You can use Cleardocs:

• to register a company, see here;
• to reserve a company name with ASIC, see here; and
• to register a trade mark to protect intellectual property in the name, see here.

You can call Cleardocs on 1300 307 343.

Is the Certificate of Registration for a company you order online through Cleardocs sufficient to give a bank?

Christopher Balmford, MD

The Certificate of Registration for a company that ASIC sends to Cleardocs electronically — and that Cleardocs provides to its customers electronically — is the original Certificate. The only way ASIC provides its standard Certificates is electronically.

The standard Certificate is enough to open a bank account and is what most companies use.

(Apart from the standard certificate, you can order a hardcopy printed “commemorative certificate” direct from ASIC. These commemorative certificates cost extra, $39.95 each or $34.95 each for 2 or more. There are 12 different designs, for example: Australian birds, Australian icons, Agriculture, Classic, Commerce, and Technology. But ASIC makes a commemorative certificate for you only if you specifically order one direct from ASIC after your company is registered. ASIC will then send the commemorative certificate to the company. It doesn’t send them to Cleardocs.)

Bank rejection? Occasionally when someone is trying to set up a bank account for a company, the bank rejects the Certificate. A bank that does this — or at least, the relevant branch that does this — is several years out of date with ASIC’s systems etc.

If a bank rejects your certificate and asks “for the original certificate”, then the thing to do is to get the person at the bank to check the above information with ASIC. They can do that by:

• calling ASIC on 1300 300 630;
• when listening to the options, they should press 1, then 1 again; and
• when they speak to the person at ASIC, they should explain that they registered the company through Cleardocs and the Certificate they have given the bank came electronically from Cleardocs.

ASIC will explain things to the bank.

You might like to call ASIC on the number etc. above to confirm all this for yourself.

You can order a company online through Cleardocs for $549.50

You can read an Overview of some things to consider when registering an Australian company

A remarkably helpful ATO

Danni Kirwan, Marketing Executive

While researching a topic for my blog this week, I stumbled across a new page on the ATO website – Small business support.

Now I’m sure that when many of us think of the tax office, our thoughts are less than complimentary... But after a peek around this new section of the site, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by what’s on offer.

On the Cleardocs helpline, we regularly get calls from customers registering new companies, excited about the prospect of starting their own business and pursuing their passion. But whether your passion is painting houses, baking cakes or grooming dogs, chances are you’ll be paying tax.

So although you’re almost certainly an expert at what your business does, you may not be quite on top of the tax obligations you will have to consider as a small business owner. Even if you employ an accountant to take care of these issues, it’s still a good idea to know the basics about what’s required of you.

The Small business support page, which can be found here, links to a number of pages with useful information about the types of things you will need to consider as a small business owner. Topics covered include “starting your small business”, “complying with your tax obligations” and “reporting and paying tax”. Each topic covers issues that you may come across as a business owner, why they may affect you, and additional information to help you find out more.

So wether you’re thinking about starting your own business, or you’re about to wind one up (there’s info about that too) you may find something on the site that’s useful to you. Cleardocs is proud to be a part of your journey as a business owner, but we also recognise the fact that what we help you with is just the beginning of a long path – so remember there’s tools and resources out there that can help you along the way.

Launch your company into cyberspace

Danni Kirwan, Marketing Executive

How do your customers find you? In the past, it may have been as simple as a quick flick through the yellow pages or a recommendation from a friend. These days, phone books have been replaced by search engines and recommendations come not just from friends but from anyone with internet access who cares to share their opinion. Although this is great for consumers, where does it leave businesses that haven’t yet found their home in the World Wide Web?

Online visibility is now a key factor in the marketing strategy of many businesses – both big and small. As consumers become more internet savvy, companies need to be in the online arena if they are to compete. Case in point: If you wanted to book a hotel or flight ten years ago, you’d go to your travel agent and hope they could get you a good deal. These days, you can compare and book online in minutes, all with a lowest price guarantee.

But you don’t have to be a five star hotel or an international airline to take advantage of the accessibility and convenience of the internet. If you would like to get your company online, then the information below will give you an idea of the basics:

Registering a domain

Registering your domain will be your starting point, first you’ll need to choose a domain name (and check that it’s available) and the type of domain that you wish to register. Ideally, your domain name should be as close to your company name as possible. So if you’re registering a new company, then you may want to check that a domain name − the same as or similar to the company name − is also available.

The most common types of domains registered in Australia are “.com” and “.com.au”. Although “.com’s” can be registered world-wide for any purpose, “.com.au” domains are only for use by Australian businesses. If you wish to register a “.com.au”, then you will need to provide proof that you have officially registered a related business or company name – such as your ABN or ACN number. There’s also a range of other domains available for specialised purposes , for example “.org.au” for non-profit organisations and “.id.au” for Australian individuals.

Hosting – giving your website a home

The next thing you will need to consider is hosting your website. Essentially, Web Hosting is what allows your domain or website to be found on the internet. Your web host will store your web files (the data contained on your web pages) on a server, and then when someone searches for your domain name a request is sent to that server and your web page will then load.

Like domains, there’s a lot of options to consider when you are purchasing hosting. The cost of your hosting will vary depending on factors such as the amount of memory and number of email addresses included in your package. If you purchase hosting alone you will also need to hire someone to design a webpage for you − in some cases hosting and web-design are sold as a package.

If you don’t want the ongoing responsibility of building and maintaining a website, then you may wish to consider email forwarding. Email forwarding allows customers to send emails to your domain, which are then forwarded to your existing email account. This allows you to present a professional corporate identity to your client without the expense of web hosting or design.

So where’s my website?

A common question we are asked on the Cleardomains helpline is “why can’t I see my website in a Google search?” When you do a web search, your browser trawls the internet for what it believes to be the most relevant results. You can improve the chances of your site being found by using relevant keywords and phrases on your site, and building quality links to other sites. Improving your websites presence on the internet (and thus your search rankings) is called search engine optimisation (SEO). There are many companies that provide SEO services if you need help making your site more search engine friendly.

How much does it cost?

The market for domains and web-hosting is world-wide, and thus quite competitive. Cleardocs’ sells domains and hosting though Cleardomains Domains start from $29.95 per year for “.com” and $79.90 for two years for a “.com.au” domain.

A range of hosting is available to suit different needs, and starts from $11.00 a month.

To visit Cleardomains and find out more click here.

You’ve Registered your company … now what?

Danni Kirwan, Marketing Executive

Cleardocs help you quickly and easily register your company online — but there are a few more things you’ll need to do to get your company up and running and to go on looking after it. Here are some tips:

Notify the ATO of the company’s Public Officer

If you register your company with Cleardocs, then we provide you with an addressed letter to the ATO notifying it of your company’s public officer. You need to sign this letter and send it to the ATO so that it knows who to contact if it has any queries about your company.

You need to make sure you notify the ATO of your company’s public officer within three months after the company is registered. If you decide to change the public officer of your company in the future, then you need to notify the ATO of the change within 28 days.

Wait for your corporate key

ASIC issues you your corporate key after your company is registered. It will be posted to the registered office of your company. Once you have your corporate key, which is an 8 digit number, you can register to lodge documents to ASIC, or view statements from ASIC, online.

If you lose or forget your corporate key, then you can request a new one from ASIC here.

Register for an ABN and TFN

You will need to get an Australian Business Number (ABN) and a Tax File Number (TFN) for your new company.

Registering for an ABN and TFN yourself is free. You can use the same form to apply for both online at the Australian Business Register, here.

If you complete the application online, then you should generally be notified of your ABN number immediately. However, if the ATO needs to verify any information in your application the issuing of your ABN might be delayed.

You will be notified of your companies TFN by mail, and that can take up to 28 days.

Open a bank account

You’ll probably need to open a separate bank account in your company’s name. When you go to the bank to open your account, the bank will most likely ask to see your company’s Certificate of Registration (from ASIC) and your other company documents including your constitution and your directors’ signed consent forms.

What if you haven’t got any documents … ? If you registered your company directly through ASIC and don’t have any company documents all’s well – Cleardocs has a package created specifically for this purpose. Our Registration Documents Only package is $137.50 and includes all of the documents for your existing company as though you had just registered it.

Keeping your company’s records up to date, changing your company details

Over time, details of your company may change – like the address of your registered office, or the directors of the company. It’s important that you notify ASIC of any changes to your company. You can do so by completing a form and lodging it with ASIC. If you have registered for online access, then you can notify ASIC of your company changes online. For more information about notifying ASIC of changes to your company, see here.

Fastest online company registration

Christopher Balmford MD

You know, I'm curious about the fastest anyone has registered a company online through Cleardocs. Way back when we launched in 2002, one of our first customers set — what we reckon is — the record. But maybe someone has done it faster since, or will do it faster soon. Let us know if you do.

The speed we enabled was unusual in 2002. When Cleardocs launched, we were the first purely online company registration provider. Through Cleardocs, our customers could, for the first time anywhere:

• log on,
  
• answer the questions on our interface,
  
• electronically lodge the application to register the company with ASIC, and
  
• receive the ACN and all the legal documents immediately by email.

It was pretty exciting stuff. In 2002, none of our competitors could do anything like it. Even if they enabled you to order through their website, someone at their end had to do something manually to register your company. So if you wanted a company at 6.30pm (or am!), it was likely to be tough. But at Cleardocs.com, it didn't matter what time it was, or what day it was, you could register a brand new company. You still can — we have people ordering companies 24/7. If ASIC's site is open etc. (and it pretty much always is), then you can register a company through Cleardocs.

Anyway back in 2002, one of our very first customers who had done a few company registrations with Cleardocs rang to say she wanted to know what the record was for the fastest company. Her name is Janette Boluch. I just spoke to her a few minutes ago. In 2002, she worked at Manning & Perry, now she is with Chris Wilson and Associates in Hawthorn in Melbourne. And she still uses Cleardocs. Thank you, Janette!

We reckon Janette still holds the record for:

"An Australian company registration through Cleardocs — from logging on, through answering all the questions, to getting the response from ASIC that the company is registered with an ACN."

Janette's time? 11.5 minutes. Let us know if you beat it.