Company name, business name and trading name compared

Company name, business name, trading name. People use the three as if they were the same thing, and the mix-up can leave you trading under a name you should have registered.

A company name is the legal name of a company. For most small businesses the company is a proprietary one, so the name ends in "Pty Ltd". It is registered with ASIC at the same moment the company is, and it stays with the company until the company changes it or stops existing.

The company itself is a legal entity. It can own a ute, sign a lease and be sued, separately from the people who run it. That separation is where a company's protection comes from. The name is just how the law points to it.

Two numbers go with it. The Australian Company Number, or ACN, identifies the company. If the company trades it will usually have an Australian Business Number as well. The ABN identifies an entity for tax and business purposes, and sole traders, partnerships, trusts and companies can all have one. Anyone can see an ABN and the names attached to it on ABN Lookup.

What a business name is (and is not)

A business name is a name you trade under that is different from your own legal name. It is registered separately with ASIC, for one year or three years at a time, and then renewed.

Two situations call for one. Take a hypothetical sole trader, Sarah Nguyen. She can trade as "Sarah Nguyen" without registering anything. The moment she calls the business "Northside Pet Grooming", that name has to be registered. The same goes for a company. If "Nguyen Holdings Pty Ltd" opens a café called "The Corner Bean", the café name needs registering as a business name, held by the company. A company can hold as many business names as it needs.

This is where the mix-up does damage. A business name is a label attached to an entity, nothing more. It does not create a new entity. It cannot own anything. It gives no separate legal protection. Registering a business name also does not give you exclusive ownership of it the way a trade mark can.

"Trading name" is the loosest of the three. It is just the everyday phrase for whatever name a business uses with customers, and there is no separate registration for it. In practice your trading name is either your registered business name or your legal name. An old trading name on ABN records from before the national register is not a registered business name.

Invoices, and where a domain fits

An invoice should tell the customer who they are actually dealing with. That means the legal name or the registered business name, along with the ABN. A company will often show both, with "The Corner Bean" across the top and "Nguyen Holdings Pty Ltd" and its ABN underneath. This is general information, and an accountant can confirm what suits your business.

A domain name is a different thing again, and registering one does not register a business name. They are linked in one way, though. To hold a .com.au domain you need an Australian presence, such as an ABN, ACN or registered business name, and the domain has to match that name or be closely connected to what you do. So sorting out the business name first makes the domain easier.

If you are trading under anything other than your own legal name, we can register that business name for you. On our business names page you search whether the name is available, then enter the details of whoever will hold it (you as a sole trader, or your company). The holder needs an ABN first. If you do not have one yet, we can apply for an ABN for a sole trader or a company as well. You choose a one or three year term, pay, and we lodge the registration with ASIC.

Buying a business that already has a name? The seller gives you a transfer key, and you enter it on the same registration form to take the name over.

And if a company is the structure you want, we register proprietary companies too, with the ABN added to the same order.

Not sure whether your name is already registered, or who holds it? Our team can check on 1300 070 000, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm Melbourne time.