Starting a business in Australia, step by step

Starting a business means a string of small official jobs: getting the right numbers, registering a name, working out which licences your trade needs and paying the fees that go with them. Each job is simple on its own. The hard part is knowing which ones apply to you, in what order to do them, and what they cost in your state or territory.

These guides walk through one job at a time. Each one opens with a checklist you can follow in order, then shows the fees by state with a link to the page we read each amount from and the date we checked it. Where the rules differ between states, the guide names the state. Where a licence comes with a test, it links to our free practice quiz for that test.

We write the guides from government and regulator websites only, and list every source at the bottom of the page. Fees and rules change, so check the linked page before you pay or apply. If something looks out of date, tell us and we will recheck it.