Trading names will cease to exist from 1 November 2018

Do you have a trading name attached to your ABN, or your company/trust’s ABN?

From November 2018, trading names will be removed from ABN Lookup. ABN Lookup is a tool run by Australian Business Register (ABR) to collect or update trading names. They were collecting trading names up till 28 May 2012 when Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) started a new service to manage the registration of business names. To keep your trading name, you will need to register it as a business name with ASIC. This applies to cases where you trade under a name that is different from your, or your entity’s name.

What should I do now?

You can register for a business name through the ASIC website online here.

To check if your business name details are up to date or not, you can conduct a search from the Business Names Index, or log onto your ASIC Connect account. The link here provides instructions on how to conduct the search.