13 steps to incorporating in New Zealand in 2024
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Pre-incorporation steps
Engagement planning
- Our Client and Healy Consultants will agree upon i) the optimum New Zealand corporate structure ii) how to legally minimize global taxation iii) location of the corporate bank account and iv) engagement fees and timelines. Once the exact corporate structure is agreed, Healy Consultants drafts a detailed New Zealand incorporation project plan, mapping out by week each step to engagement completion, optimizing transparency and settling our Client expectations;
- During this planning phase our Client must also confirm if they require Healy Consultants to provide a New Zealand nominee resident director to comply with this statutory obligation;
- Our Client i) settles Healy Consultants’ fees ii) signs and returns our Client Engagement Letter and iii) provides us all the required due diligence documents;
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Incorporation procedure
- Healy Consultants completes and submits Form 4 to reserve the company name with the Companies Office. Click here to check the availability of your preferred company names on the New Zealand Companies Register;
- Once the company name is successfully reserved, Healy Consultants prepares Form 1 and submits the complete company incorporation application for approval. We will supply our Client with a NZ business address as the registered office. If required, Healy Consultants will be pleased to provide our Client i) with full virtual office services including call forwarding and mail forwarding service and ii) appointment of the New Zealand resident director together with detailed due diligence for professional passive nominee;
- Before the Companies Office approves company registration and issues our Client’s company Certificate of Incorporation, Consent Form 2 will be required to be signed by all directors and Consent Form 3 for all shareholders. Healy Consultants will submit these forms on behalf of our Client to timely secure the New Zealand Business Number;
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Post-incorporation steps
Corporate Bank account opening
- Healy Consultants communicates with the local or international bank to secure a corporate bank account number without our Client travelling. A detailed business plan is prepared for the bank. Healy Consultants activates internet banking on behalf of our Client;
Tax registrations
- If required, Healy Consultants then i) gets tax registration form 596 signed by all the company’s shareholders and its resident director and ii) submits it on behalf of our Client to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). The IRD couriers a confirmation letter to our Client’s New Zealand business address. If such address has been provided by Healy Consultants, our firm then couriers the letter back to our Client’s preferred address;
- If required, we can assist our client to register for an MYIR account, which enables individuals to file any tax return via Inland Revenue’s portal;
- If required, we assist our client to complete the IR360 application form and obtain a business classification code for an entity;
- If required, Healy Consultants submits client bank account details for GST refunds (if any).
Work permit applications
- If work permit applications are required for foreign manager and/or employees, Healy Consultants receives due diligence from each candidate and applies for work permits with the New Zealand Immigration Office;
- Following New Zealand business incorporation, Healy Consultants couriers the full company kit to our Client including original corporate documents, unopened bank correspondence, and a Client feedback survey to assess the quality of our New Zealand company incorporation services.
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Business setup requirements in New Zealand
- Documents required to complete company incorporation include i) certified true copies of passports, ii) address proof and iii) bank reference letters for the persons to be the proposed directors and individual shareholders and iv) legal incorporation documents for corporate shareholders;
- Additional documents if a work permit application is planned will be i) resume ii) highest academic qualifications iii) technical certifications (if any) and iv) medical certificate of the applicant. Before Healy Consultants applies for a specific work permit, our Clients can check their eligibility by completing this online assessment tool;