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To assist you in assessing the information you will need to provide us in order to register you with the Australian Taxation Office, we attach the following documents:
ABN application form (Company, partnership or trust)
Proof of identity - for individuals and businesses resident outside Australia
Company
If the company does not have a Tax File Number or Australian Registered Body Number by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, you must provide a certified copy of a certificate of registration or incorporation (or equivalent) from the relevant authority in your country of origin. If a certificate of registration or incorporation is not relevant to the country of origin, a signed statement to that effect is acceptable. The statement must be signed by at least two directors.
Associates of the company
You must also provide information and documents about your directors and public officer as follows:
- for companies listed on a stock exchange:
- - details of the stock exchange listing
- - details for all directors and the Australian resident public officer listing their:
- full name
- date of birth, and
- full residential address
- identification documents or the TFNs for one director and the Australian resident public officer
- for companies not listed on a stock exchange:
- - details for all directors and the Australian resident public officer listing their:
- full name
- date of birth, and
- full residential address
identification documents or the TFNs for all directors (to a maximum of three) and the Australian resident public officer.
Copies of documents - applicants outside Australia
If you apply to register for the goods and services tax, the ATO will need to see certain identification documents. If necessary, you must arrange for documents in another language to be translated into English and certified as a true and correct copy by an authorised translation service.
In order for us to lodge the documents with the ATO, you may:
- send us current, certified copies of your identification documents
- send us copies bearing an apostille if the issuing country is a signatory to the Hague Apostille Convention
- send us the original documents – we will return these to you by registered mail.
Certified copies
The staff of your nearest Australian Embassy, High Commission or Consulate can certify photocopies of documents as true and correct copies of the original for a small fee. They can also give you the name of an authorised translation service. Visit the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website at www.dfat.gov.au for a listing of its offices by country.
Please note that consulates headed by honorary consuls are not able to perform notarial acts and cannot certify documents.
Copies bearing an apostille
The ATO will accept another way of supplying copies of public documents, including birth and marriage certificates, from outside Australia. This option may be more suitable if you are not within a reasonable distance of an Australian Embassy, High Commission or Consulate.
If your document was issued in a signatory country, you can arrange for a copy to be certified following the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (Hague Apostille Convention).
An apostille is a type of certification issued by a ‘competent authority’ designated by the state in which your document was issued.
You can establish if your country is one of the over 90 countries party to the convention by referring to the Hague Convention website. The list of signatory countries can be found at www.hcch.net in the Apostille section under Status table of the Apostille Convention.You can also find out who or what the competent authority is in your country at www.hcch.net in the Apostille section under Competent authorities designated under Article 6 - Contact details - Price of an Apostille - Other practical information.
You will need to check with the competent authority in your country whether they will require:
- the original document
- a notarised copy, or
- both.
The competent authority will confirm the authenticity of the signature on the document and, where appropriate, the stamp or seal on the document. They will then certify that the government authority or notary that has signed is authorised to do so by placing an apostille on your document.
Once the competent authority has returned your document with the apostille to you, please forward it to us.