You have decided to launch an online business — the structure is roughly mapped, the idea is ready to test, and the website is coming together. What you need before the first order lands is a legal foundation that will hold as you grow. Done in the right order, the setup is straightforward. Done in the wrong order — or skipped — it creates tax exposure, unenforceable contracts, and personal liability that is hard to unwind later.
Work through the steps below and you will end up with an ABN, a registered business identity, the right tax settings, a core set of legal documents, and a clear picture of the laws that govern you from day one. One thing this process does not produce on its own: legal advice tailored to your specific model. Where your business involves unusual risk, regulated products, or co-founders, a solicitor should review your setup before you go live.
What to have ready before you start
- A decision on your trading name (and whether it differs from your legal name)
- A decision on business structure — sole trader, partnership, or company — or at least the information to make that call
- Identity documents (you will need 100-point ID equivalent for company registration and director consent)
- A valid email address and a phone number that can receive SMS verification
- The fee for business name registration (ASIC charges a set registration fee; check the current amount on ASIC's website)
- For company registration: a proposed registered office address in Australia (can be your accountant's office) and the details of each director and shareholder
- A domain name shortlist checked against ASIC's business names register and IP Australia's trade mark search
The prerequisites that most people skip — and later regret — are the trade mark search and the structure decision. Registering a business name does not give you trade mark rights; and switching from sole trader to company after you have signed supplier agreements and taken on clients creates real friction.
Choose a business structure
Your structure determines your personal liability exposure, how the business is taxed, and how difficult it will be to bring in investors or co-founders later.
- Sole trader. The simplest and cheapest structure. You report business income on your individual return and have full control. The trade-off: there is no legal separation between you and the business, so personal assets are exposed to business debts and claims.
- Partnership. Two or more individuals or entities share profits and management. Easy to form, but partners are generally jointly and severally liable for each other's debts incurred in the course of the partnership business.
- Proprietary limited company (Pty Ltd). A separate legal entity regulated by ASIC under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). Directors and shareholders are generally protected from personal liability beyond their investment. A company requires more administration — annual statements, director duties, potential financial reporting — but it is the preferred structure for businesses carrying real commercial risk or planning to grow.
There is no universal right answer. Consider your risk profile, whether you have co-founders, and whether you are likely to seek external capital within three to five years.
Obtain an ABN
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) issues ABNs to entities that are carrying on an enterprise in Australia. If you are genuinely operating a business — invoicing customers, advertising your services, taking on business risk — you are almost certainly carrying on an enterprise and need an ABN.
An ABN is required to:
- Issue invoices (without one, payers may be required to withhold 47% of the payment)
- Register for GST
- Register a business name with ASIC
- Trade with most online marketplaces and wholesale suppliers
The hobby-versus-business distinction matters. A side activity you pursue without a genuine profit motive may not require an ABN, but many "side hustles" cross the line quickly. If in doubt, a registered tax agent can assess your specific situation.
Register your business identity
Register a business name with ASIC
If you trade under any name other than your own legal name, you must register that name as a business name with ASIC. Registration is done through the Australian Government's Business Registration Service. You will need your ABN (or ABN application reference number) to proceed.
A registered business name does not confer any intellectual property rights in the name. It simply records who trades under it.
Register a company (if applicable)
If you are operating as a Pty Ltd, register the company with ASIC. This produces an Australian Company Number (ACN). You then apply for an ABN for the company as a separate entity. A company must have at least one director who ordinarily resides in Australia, a registered office, and a principal place of business.
You will also decide at this stage whether to adopt ASIC's replaceable rules or a custom company constitution. Most early-stage companies with a single founder adopt replaceable rules to keep costs down, but if you have multiple shareholders from the outset a constitution — or at minimum a shareholders agreement — is worth the investment.
Secure your domain
Lock down your .com.au or .au domain early. auDA (the .au Domain Administration) maintains eligibility rules; a .com.au domain generally requires an Australian presence and a connection between the domain name and your registered business name, trade mark, or personal name. If you allow third parties to use your domain, a written domain name licence agreement sets the rules around that use.
Confirm licences, permits, and industry-specific rules
Online businesses are not exempt from licensing and regulatory requirements. Depending on your model, you may need:
- Council approval if you operate from home (many councils have specific home-based business policies)
- State or territory licences for regulated activities such as financial services, legal services, health services, or the sale of alcohol
- Federal approvals for therapeutic goods (Therapeutic Goods Administration), food imports, or age-restricted products
Requirements vary significantly by jurisdiction and product type. Check what applies to your specific activities before you open for orders.
Register for GST and set up your tax records
Under the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (Cth) and as confirmed by the ATO, you must register for GST once your GST turnover reaches $75,000 (or $150,000 for non-profit organisations). You have 21 days from the date you know you will exceed the threshold to register.
You may also register voluntarily below that threshold — which can make sense if your customers are predominantly GST-registered businesses that can claim input tax credits, or if you want clean invoicing from day one.
Alongside GST registration:
- Open a dedicated business bank account to keep personal and business funds separate
- Set up accounting software and establish a record-keeping system for invoices, expenses, and inventory from the first day of trading
- Engage a registered tax or BAS agent to configure your reporting obligations — the cost of getting this right early is far lower than the cost of unwinding errors later
Put your legal documents in place before launch
Contracts and policies are not bureaucratic overhead — they are the documents that set enforceable expectations with customers, suppliers, and team members, and they are your first line of defence in a dispute.
Customer-facing documents
- Website Terms and Conditions. Governs how users may access and use your site, limits your liability for third-party content or service outages, and sets acceptable use rules.
- Terms of Sale or Service. Covers pricing, delivery timeframes, returns, refunds, subscription renewals, and how disputes are handled. These terms also operationalise your obligations under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) — Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) — which requires accurate marketing, fair contract terms, and the honouring of consumer guarantees (repair, replacement, or refund where a product or service does not meet the required standard).
- Privacy Policy. Explains what personal information you collect, why you collect it, how it is stored, with whom it is shared, and how customers can access or correct their information. Under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), organisations with annual turnover above $3 million are automatically subject to the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), as confirmed by the OAIC. Below that threshold, most small businesses fall within the small business exemption — unless an exception applies (for example, health service providers, businesses that trade in personal information, or businesses that contract with Commonwealth agencies). Even if the exemption applies to you now, customers and platforms increasingly expect a clear, transparent Privacy Policy, and it is best practice to have one regardless.
- Cookie Policy. If you use analytics tools, advertising pixels, or other tracking technologies, a brief notice or policy keeps users informed of that collection and aligns with community expectations around data transparency.
Email marketing
If you run email campaigns, the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) requires that commercial electronic messages are sent only with the recipient's consent, carry accurate sender identification, and include a functional unsubscribe mechanism. Unsubscribe requests must be honoured promptly. Non-compliance can attract significant civil penalties.
Supplier and operations documents
- Supply Agreement. If you rely on manufacturers, dropshippers, or key vendors, a written supply agreement locks in quality standards, delivery timeframes, pricing, liability, IP ownership, and termination rights. A vague email chain is not a contract.
- Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Protects confidential information — product formulas, source code, supplier lists — when you share it with developers, partners, or prospective investors.
Team documents
If you engage employees or contractors, you need written agreements that address IP assignment, confidentiality, post-engagement restraints (where appropriate), and the correct classification of the engagement. Misclassifying an employee as a contractor can expose you to back-payment obligations under the National Employment Standards and the applicable Modern Award.
Protect your intellectual property
Copyright in original works — product descriptions, website copy, photographs, code — arises automatically in Australia under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). There is no registration system. However, automatic copyright protection does not prevent another business from adopting a confusingly similar brand name or logo.
Trade mark registration is how you obtain the exclusive right to use a name or logo in connection with your goods or services in Australia. Applications are filed with IP Australia. The process takes a minimum of around seven months from filing (longer if there are objections or oppositions), and the minimum filing fee starts from $250 per class. Filing early matters: trade mark rights run from the application date, not the registration date.
Where Artificer Legal can assist
Setting up an online business involves parallel workstreams that interact in ways that are easy to miss: the structure decision affects your privacy obligations; your employment terms affect your IP ownership; your supplier agreements affect your ACL exposure. An Artificer Legal practitioner can:
- Advise on the right structure for your specific risk profile and growth plans, and draft the founding documents (company constitution or shareholders agreement) to match
- Draft, review, and tailor your website terms, terms of sale, privacy policy, and cookie policy so that they are legally sound and genuinely specific to your business — not recycled templates
- Register or review a trade mark application and advise on protecting your brand across product categories and jurisdictions
- Draft employment contracts, contractor agreements, and NDAs with appropriate IP assignment and confidentiality provisions
- Review supply agreements before you sign, and flag risk allocations that do not suit your model
- Advise on licensing obligations for your specific industry and jurisdiction before launch, not after a regulator makes contact
The step that determines whether your launch holds up
The single factor that most often causes problems — delayed, expensive, and sometimes irreversible — is deferring the structure decision until after the business has customers, revenue, and commitments. Once you have signed contracts under your personal name, taken on employees, and built a trading history, moving to a company is a material project involving tax advice, new ABN registration, novation of contracts, and fresh supplier negotiations. Starting as a company costs a little more upfront; restructuring costs far more later.
The key points to carry forward: obtain your ABN before you invoice anyone; register your business name and domain before you begin marketing; register for GST before you cross $75,000 in turnover; put your website terms, privacy policy, and trading terms live before you take the first order; and file a trade mark application early, because your rights date back to that filing date. Privacy and spam obligations apply from the first email address you collect — not from the first time your turnover crosses a threshold.