Legislation for establishing a business

We have three main forms of business in New Zealand:

• Sole traders
  They own all the assets of a business and are responsible for all the risks, obligations and debts.

• Partnerships and joint ventures
  If you want to operate a business with other people in New Zealand , you can establish an ordinary or special partnership under the guidelines established by the Partnership Act 1908. There are advantages to a partnership or joint venture. You can combine overseas capital or expertise with business networks and ownership of resources here.

• Companies
  Anybody can apply to register a company, either alone or with someone else. A company must have a registered name, one or more shares, one or more shareholders, and one or more directors. You can find the basic rules for setting up and running a company in the Companies Act 1993. And you’ll need to register your company with the Companies Office.

• Overseas companies
  You can register your overseas company or do business here. You can also set up a branch in New Zealand. But there are rules about this. The Overseas Investment Commission assesses applications from people who want to make substantial investments here. They want to make sure that the investment will be good for New Zealand.