All states and territories will soon have access to a new service acting as a one-stop shop in registering a new business.
The Easy To Do Business program has finished beta-testing and will let businesses from all sectors apply for multiple business and tax registrations through a revamped portal on business.gov.au.
"About 97 per cent of all business in this country is small business and they employ around about 6.5 million Australians, and we want to make it easier for them," Minister For Revenue and Financial Services Kelly O’Dwyer said.
The program will also provide businesses with support and advice to ensure they meet all their registration requirements and dramatically cut red tape.
The program will also reduce the average time to register for an ABN from one hour to less than 15 minutes.
NSW Minister for Finance Victor Dominello said restaurants, bars and cafes have access to the program and plans to extend it into other industries such as construction are being made.
Terry Jones says the program will be a game changer. Source: Supplied
Ms O'Dwyer says providing a simpler, clearer way to register a business will save people starting a business an estimated $40 million each year.
Owner of Woodberry Views Cafe at the Anglicare Woodberry Village, Terry Jones says it's a game changer.
"Its going to make it so much easier for people had a small idea but don't want to go through hassles of processes to do but with this it's really easy," Mr Jones said.
Since the beta-testing phase, more than 35,000 registrations have been submitted.
The service is being developed in collaboration with the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and the Department of the Treasury.
The Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Craig Laundy says, the Federal Government is also working in conjunction the states to ensure businesses can seamlessly communicate across all levels of government.
Terry Jones says the program wil be a huge help to realising small businesses. Source: Supplied
“We are working with Service NSW to link the business registration service with state systems to help make it faster and easier to start a café or restaurant," Mr Laundy said.
"We have allocated over $9 million in the 2017–18 Budget to replicate this project for other business sectors, and in other parts of Australia.”
Service NSW also runs the Easy To Do Business Program, an initiative providing industry-specific information to help business owners navigate government regulations, licencing and approvals.
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