How to Register a Business Name with ASIC (Cost and Steps)

Registering a business name with ASIC costs $47 for one year or $108 for three years (as at September 2026), takes about 15 minutes on ASIC Connect, and is compulsory if you trade under anything other than your own name or your company's exact registered name. What it doesn't do matters just as much: it gives you no ownership of the name and no protection from trade mark claims. Here's who needs one, how to register, and how to handle renewals, transfers and the fake renewal letters that follow.

Do you actually need to register a business name?

Under the Business Names Registration Act 2011, if you carry on business under a name that isn't your own, you must register it with ASIC before you start trading. "Your own name" is read narrowly.

You trade as	Registration needed?
Jane Nguyen (sole trader, first name and surname)	No
Jane Nguyen Plumbing, J. Nguyen Plumbing or Nguyen Plumbing	Yes
Nguyen & Patel (partnership using all partners' names)	No
Nguyen Patel Consulting	Yes
Northside Plumbing Pty Ltd, trading as exactly that	No
Northside Plumbing Pty Ltd, trading as "Northside Plumbing"	Yes, the company registers the name as holder

Adding a word to your personal name, using initials, or dropping "Pty Ltd" from your company name all count as trading under a business name. Companies get caught constantly: the director assumes the company registration covers the shortened trading name. It doesn't.

Trading under an unregistered name is a strict liability offence (section 18 of the Act) with a maximum penalty of 30 penalty units, which at the current $364 penalty unit is $10,920 (as at September 2026). Prosecutions are rare; the everyday problem is that banks won't open an account in a trading name you can't show is registered.

The holder must be the legal entity running the business, so settle your structure first. Our guide to sole trader, company and trust structures covers the trade-offs.

What it costs (as at September 2026)

Fee	Amount
Register or renew for 1 year	$47
Register or renew for 3 years	$108
Update address, holder or contact details	Free
Cancel a business name	Free (no refund of unused period)
Transfer a business name	Free to submit; the new holder pays a normal registration fee

Fees are indexed to CPI every 1 July, so expect a small rise each year. The three-year option saves about $33 and spares you two renewal cycles of deadlines and scam letters.

You pay ASIC directly by card, BPAY or Australia Post. There is no faster paid lane; websites charging $80 to $150 to "register your business name today" are filling in the same form and keeping the difference.

Before you start: three checks

1. Have your ABN or ABN reference number

You can't register a business name without an ABN or the reference number from a pending ABN application. If you haven't applied yet, the Business Registration Service at register.business.gov.au lets you apply for the ABN, business name and GST registration in one pass, for the same ASIC fee.

2. Check the name is available

Use the free "Check name availability" search on ASIC Connect. ASIC refuses names identical or nearly identical to an existing business name, company name or pending application, and "nearly identical" is broad: the comparison ignores plurals, "the" and "a", capitalisation, punctuation and spaces. "The Coffee Shed", "Coffee Sheds" and "COFFEESHED" are the same name to ASIC.

Availability isn't the only hurdle: restricted words such as "trust", "bank" and "University" need someone's consent first, and only plain English characters are accepted. Our guide on choosing a business name and checking it's available lists what ASIC will and won't accept, along with the ABN Lookup and .com.au checks worth doing at the same time.

3. Search the trade mark register

ASIC does not check IP Australia's trade mark register and says plainly that you should do it yourself before applying. Run the free Australian Trade Mark Search at ipaustralia.gov.au. If your name uses words someone has trade marked for similar goods or services, ASIC will still register it, and you'll carry the infringement risk.

How to register on ASIC Connect, step by step

1. Create or log in to an ASIC Connect account at asicconnect.asic.gov.au.
2. Open the "Licences and Registrations" tab, choose "Business name registration" and select Go. Tick the acknowledgements and select "Get started".
3. Enter your ABN (or ABN application reference number) with no spaces. ASIC pulls the holder's legal name from the Australian Business Register: a company ABN makes the company the holder; a personal ABN makes you the holder.
4. Type the business name exactly as you want it to appear. Capitalisation and punctuation are recorded as entered, and ASIC won't fix typos for free. Check it twice.
5. Choose one or three years.
6. Enter holder and business details: principal place of business, address for service of documents, and an email address. Renewal notices and cancellation warnings go to that email.
7. Complete the eligibility declarations (the holder isn't disqualified from managing corporations or convicted of relevant offences), agree to the declaration and submit.
8. Pay within 10 business days of applying, or the application is refused and you start again.

ASIC says registration can take up to 24 hours once payment clears; business.gov.au suggests allowing two business days for card payments and five for BPAY or bank transfer. You'll get a record of registration by email from ASIC.transactions.no-reply@asic.gov.au. Save the PDF, because banks and suppliers will ask for it.

What happens after you register

• You'll receive an ASIC key, a code that links the name to your ASIC Connect account. Keep it; you'll need it to change accounts or let your accountant manage renewals.
• Display the name prominently wherever the business is open to the public, and put the business name and ABN on invoices, receipts, quotes and purchase orders.
• Tell ASIC about changes within 28 days. Updates are free. Many "non-renewal" cancellations trace back to an old email address that never received the notice.
• The name is public on ASIC's register and ABN Lookup within a day or two.

What a business name does not give you

ASIC's own wording: registration doesn't stop other people using similar words or expressions in their business name, and doesn't protect you against legal action if you use someone else's trade mark.

A registered business name...
Stops someone registering an identical or nearly identical business name	Yes
Gives you exclusive rights or "ownership" of the name	No
Stops a competitor trading as a similar (not near-identical) name	No
Protects you if the name infringes an existing trade mark	No
Creates a company or limits your liability	No
Reserves the matching .com.au domain	No

The only way to own a name is a trade mark with IP Australia. For a sole trader doing local work, a business name is often enough; if you're building a brand you'd hate to lose, budget for a trade mark early, because a name that's traded for years can still be forced to rebrand by someone who trade marks it later. Here's how to trade mark a business name, from the classes you pick to the seven-month wait.

Renewing your business name (and the fake renewal letters)

ASIC emails a renewal notice at least 30 days before expiry to the address on the register, and posts it only if it holds no email for you. Renew either through the Business Name Renewal Service (enter your account number or ABN, pick one or three years, pay by card, BPAY or Australia Post, no login needed) or through ASIC Connect if you also need to update details.

Miss the due date and ASIC sends a notice of intent to cancel, then cancels two months later. Paying within that window stops the cancellation. If the name has already been cancelled for non-renewal, you can ask ASIC to restore it within six months; after that you re-register from scratch if it's still free. Nobody else can register the name for at least six months after an ASIC cancellation.

The third-party "renewal notice" letters

Once your name is on the public register, private companies scrape the renewal date and post you an official-looking "invoice" a few weeks before it falls due, offering to renew for you at a multiple of ASIC's fee, with fine print admitting they're independent. The renewal usually goes through, but you've paid a hefty mark-up for a five-minute job.

Tell the difference by:

• Channel. ASIC's notice comes by email from an asic.gov.au address. A printed letter with a payment slip is almost never ASIC.
• Amount. ASIC's fee is $47 or $108 (as at September 2026). Anything else includes someone's margin.
• Payee. The only payee for a genuine renewal is ASIC.
• Details. Generic greetings, a wrong or missing ABN, or address errors point to a bulk mail-out.

Never pay through a link in an email or SMS. Go to asic.gov.au yourself. Report fake ASIC notices to Scamwatch.

Transferring a business name

When you sell a business or move from sole trader to company, the name doesn't move automatically:

1. The current holder logs in to ASIC Connect, selects the name under "Lodgements and notifications", chooses "Cancel/transfer business name" and submits a transfer. ASIC issues a transfer number (a 1, a hyphen, then eleven digits) to pass to the new holder.
2. The new holder registers the name through the normal flow, entering it exactly as it appears on the register plus the transfer number, and pays a standard registration fee under their own ABN.

The transfer number is valid for four months and 28 days; after that the name is released to the public. ASIC cancels the old registration within 28 days of the transfer being submitted. Unused registration time is neither carried over nor refunded.

Cancelling a business name

If you stop trading or rebrand, cancel the name so you're not paying renewals or leaving a stale public listing. In ASIC Connect, open "Lodgements and notifications", select the name, choose "Cancel/transfer business name", select "I would like to cancel the business name", agree to the declaration and submit.

ASIC cancels the name 28 days later. There's no fee and no refund. Once cancelled, nobody, including you, can register that name for four months, so if you might want it back, let it lapse at expiry instead.

Cancelling a business name doesn't cancel your ABN, GST registration or company; deal with each separately when you wind up. Our sole trader guide covers the shutdown checklist.

Key takeaways

• You must register before trading under anything other than your own first name and surname, all partners' names, or your company's exact name. Maximum penalty: 30 penalty units ($10,920 as at September 2026).
• It costs $47 for one year or $108 for three (as at September 2026), paid directly to ASIC. There's no faster paid option and no fee to update details.
• You need an ABN or pending ABN reference number first, and should check both the ASIC register and IP Australia's trade mark register before applying.
• A business name gives you no ownership or exclusive rights. Only a trade mark does, and ASIC won't warn you if your name clashes with one.
• ASIC renewal notices come by email at least 30 days before expiry. Posted "renewal invoices" quoting more than ASIC's fee are third-party services adding a mark-up.
• Transfers use a transfer number valid for four months and 28 days; cancellations take 28 days and lock the name for four months.

Where to get help

• ASIC (asic.gov.au, asicconnect.asic.gov.au): register, renew, transfer and cancel business names, check availability, and read the rules for acceptable names.
• Business Registration Service (register.business.gov.au): apply for an ABN, business name and tax registrations in one application.
• ABN Lookup (abr.business.gov.au): confirm your business name has appeared against your ABN.
• IP Australia (ipaustralia.gov.au): free trade mark search before you commit to a name.
• Scamwatch (scamwatch.gov.au): report fake ASIC renewal notices.
• Your accountant or lawyer: worth a conversation before registering a name to a company or trust, before buying a business that comes with a name, and whenever a name has brand value worth protecting with a trade mark.