Trading names in the ABR

The national Business Names Register was introduced in 2012 and is managed by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).

With the introduction of the national register, the Registrar of the Australian Business Register (ABR) stopped collecting and recording:

• business names registered for an entity under the old state or territory laws
• unregistered names used by entities for business purposes.

For more information, see:

• Section 25 of the A New Tax System (Australian Business Number) Act 1999
• A New Tax System (Australian Business Number) Regulations 2020

Do you need to register a business name?

A business name is the name your business operates under. You must register a business name if you run a business in Australia and are not trading under your own name

To register a business name, see the ASIC website's Register a business name.