Can You Run Multiple Businesses Under One Company?

Yes, a company can have multiple business names in Australia. Your company registers each trading name to its ABN through ASIC, pays a small registration fee per name, and all brands operate under the single legal entity. You keep one ACN, one ABN, one tax return, and one ASIC annual review fee.

Can a company have multiple business names in Australia?

Yes. Under the Business Names Registration Act 2011 (Cth), any ABN holder (including a company) can register multiple business names. There is no upper limit. ABC Pty Ltd can trade as “Sunshine Coffee,” “Bright Web Design,” and “Northern Catering Co” simultaneously, all linked to the same ABN.

One thing that changed in 2023: ASIC’s old “trading name” register was abolished. Trading names and business names used to be two separate things. Now they’re the same. If your company still has a trading name on file from before, it was automatically converted to a business name registration. Check your ASIC records to confirm the renewal dates are in order.

Your company’s legal name and ABN stay the same regardless of how many business names you register. Only the trading face changes, not the legal entity behind it.

What is the difference between a company name, a business name, and a trading name?

This confuses a lot of business owners, so it is worth getting clear before you register anything.

Term	What it is	Who controls it
Company name	The legal name your company was incorporated under (e.g. Smith Holdings Pty Ltd). Registered with ASIC when you incorporate.	ASIC
Business name	A trading identity that differs from your legal company name (e.g. “Bright Design”). Must be registered with ASIC to your ABN.	ASIC
Trading name	Abolished as a separate category in 2023. Was the same concept as a business name. Existing trading names were converted to business names.	N/A
ABN	Your company’s unique identifier. One company, one ABN. This stays constant no matter how many business names you register.	ATO / ABR

The practical point: if your company is “Smith Holdings Pty Ltd” and you want to trade as “Bright Design,” you must register “Bright Design” as a business name. You cannot just start using it. ASIC’s register is public, and customers, suppliers, and courts use it to identify who is behind a brand.

For a deeper breakdown, see Lawpath’s guide to the difference between a business name, trading name, and legal name.

How do you register multiple business names for a company?

The process is the same whether you are registering your first business name or your fifth. Each name is registered separately through the Business Registration Service or ASIC Connect.

1. Confirm your company has an active ABN. Business name registration requires an ABN. If your company is registered with ASIC, it should already have one. Check via the ABN lookup tool at abr.gov.au.
2. Check the name is available. Search ASIC’s business name register before lodging. A name already registered to another entity will be rejected. Also check for trade marks. ASIC’s register and IP Australia’s trade mark register are separate systems, and neither protects you from infringement under the other.
3. Register via the Business Registration Service. Go to register.business.gov.au, log in with your myGovID, and select your company as the ABN holder. Repeat for each business name you want to register.
4. Pay the registration fee. Current ASIC fees for 2025-26: $45 for one year, $104 for three years. The three-year option is cheaper overall and cuts down on renewal admin.
5. Update your documents and website. Every customer-facing document (invoices, contracts, website footer, email signatures) should show the legal company name followed by “trading as [business name].” This is a compliance requirement under the Business Names Registration Act, not just good practice.

Each business name registration has its own renewal date. If you register four names across different months, you can end up with four separate reminders and four separate renewal payments each year. Registering all names for three years at once and renewing them together is a practical way to keep things tidy.

You can register a business name through Lawpath if you’d prefer to have the process handled for you.

What are the advantages of running multiple business names under one company?

The main draw is efficiency. You get distinct brand identities without the overhead of running separate companies.

• One tax return, one BAS. All revenue from all brands flows into the same company and is reported together. You are not lodging four sets of accounts.
• One ASIC annual review fee. A proprietary company pays $329 per year to ASIC (2025-26 fee) regardless of how many business names it holds. Separate companies would each attract that fee.
• Simpler employment arrangements. Employees work for the company, not individual brands. You can move staff between projects or brands without restructuring employment contracts.
• Lower setup cost per brand. A new business name registration costs $45 for 12 months. Registering a new company costs $611 upfront plus ongoing compliance. For a new product line or brand extension, registering a name is far cheaper.
• Clean brand separation without legal complexity. Customers see different brand names and might not know they’re dealing with the same company. That’s legal, provided your company name and ABN appear on formal documents.

What are the disadvantages, and what most people miss?

The risk that catches people out most often: liability does not separate between business names.

If your company trades as “Bright Design” and “Coastal Catering” and Coastal Catering racks up unpaid supplier debts, those creditors can pursue the company, which means they can also go after assets linked to Bright Design’s operations. There is no legal firewall between the brands. They are all the same entity.

This is the most common misconception Lawpath lawyers see in consultations with multi-brand business owners: the assumption that separate trading names create separate liability. They don’t. Only separate legal entities (separate companies, or a holding company with subsidiary operating companies) achieve real risk isolation.

Other disadvantages worth knowing:

• Reputation risk travels across brands. A dispute, negative press, or ASIC action involving the company can affect all its business names. Customers who look up one brand will find the same company behind the others.
• Shareholders may object to high-risk ventures. If you have investors or co-shareholders and you register a new high-risk business name under the same company, they have a legitimate concern: the company’s assets are at risk if that brand fails.
• Trade mark protection must be done per name. Registering a business name gives you no exclusive rights to it. If you want to stop competitors using similar names, you need a trade mark registration for each brand. That is a separate cost.
• One ABN means one GST registration. All brands share the same GST registration. If your combined turnover crosses $75,000, the whole company must be registered for GST. There is no option to keep one brand out of the system while another is in.

Multiple business names vs separate companies: which should you choose?

This is the question most business owners should ask before registering a second brand. Most guides skip over it. Here is the honest answer.

Your situation	Recommended approach
Testing a new product line or brand extension within the same industry	Multiple business names under one company
New brand has a different customer base but similar risk profile to existing business	Multiple business names under one company
You want to isolate the liability of a higher-risk venture from your main business	Separate companies
Different investors, co-founders, or profit splits apply to different brands	Separate companies
Building a portfolio of businesses you may want to sell individually	Separate companies, potentially with a holding company structure
You want IP owned separately from the trading entity	Separate companies (typically holding company plus operating company)

The rule of thumb: if the businesses are related, have the same owners, and you don’t expect to separate or sell them individually, multiple names under one company is simpler and cheaper. If they are genuinely independent ventures, they probably deserve separate legal structures.

Can you run multiple businesses under a holding company?

Yes, and this is how most larger multi-brand businesses are structured. A holding company owns shares in separate operating companies, each of which trades under its own legal name (and can also have additional business names registered to it).

The holding company itself usually doesn’t trade. It holds assets (typically shares, IP, or property) while the operating companies take on the contracts, employees, and liabilities. A problem in one operating company is contained there. The holding company and the other subsidiaries are shielded.

In Lawpath consultations, a pattern that comes up repeatedly is this: a business owner starts with one company, registers multiple business names as the business grows, then realises later that genuine risk separation requires a restructure. Moving to a dual company or holding structure after the fact takes more work, and often involves IP transfer, contract novation, and potential stamp duty implications. Setting up the right structure earlier is nearly always cheaper than fixing it later.

Google LLC under Alphabet Inc is the well-known example, but the same principle applies at the small business level. A plumbing business and a property maintenance business owned by the same person will often sit cleaner as two operating companies under a single holding entity than as two business names under one company.

What Lawpath lawyers see in practice

A few patterns come up consistently in Lawpath advisor consultations on this topic.

The missed renewal. Business name registrations are easy to forget. Lawpath advisors regularly see clients who have been trading under a name for years without realising the registration lapsed. ASIC can cancel business names for non-renewal, and trading under a cancelled name is a compliance breach. If you have multiple names, set calendar reminders well ahead of each expiry date. Alternatively, register all names for three years at once and renew them together.

The invoice that names the wrong entity. One of the most common document errors: invoices and contracts that only show the business name, with no mention of the legal company name or ABN. This isn’t just a compliance issue. It can create problems if you ever need to enforce a contract in court, because the legal entity suing must be clearly identified. “Bright Design” can’t sue anyone; “Smith Holdings Pty Ltd trading as Bright Design” can.

The liability assumption. Many business owners assume separate business names create separate liability exposure. They don’t. When a growing business moves into a genuinely higher-risk vertical (construction, healthcare, or financial services), Lawpath advisors typically recommend separating that venture into its own company rather than adding it as a business name under the existing entity.

The trade mark gap. Business name registration and trade mark registration are completely separate. Lawpath sees this confusion often: a business owner registers “Bright Design” with ASIC and assumes the name is protected. A competitor can then register the same or similar trade mark, and the ASIC registration won’t help in a dispute. If a business name represents real brand value, a trade mark registration is the appropriate protection.

Tax considerations for companies with multiple business names

Because all business names sit inside the one company, there is only one company tax position to manage.

• Company tax rate. Most Australian companies pay either 25% (base rate entities, broadly companies with aggregated turnover under $50 million where 80% or less of income comes from passive sources) or 30% for larger or passive-income-heavy companies. Check the ATO’s current company tax rates for your entity type.
• No tax-free threshold. Unlike individual income tax, companies pay tax from the first dollar of profit. There is no threshold below which company income is tax-free.
• One BAS, one company tax return. All brands report under the company’s single ABN. You cannot separate GST or income between business names for tax purposes.
• Track revenue by brand in your accounting software. Even though the tax position is consolidated, setting up separate income and expense accounts per business name in Xero or MYOB makes it much easier to see which brands are actually profitable. Lawpath accountants regularly recommend this to clients running multiple brands under one structure.

Compliance obligations when trading under a business name

Registering the name is step one. These are the ongoing obligations most business owners underestimate.

• Disclose the legal entity on all documents. The company name and ABN must appear on invoices, contracts, receipts, and your website. The format is: “[Company Name] Pty Ltd trading as [Business Name], ABN XX XXX XXX XXX.”
• Keep business name details current with ASIC. If your company changes its address or principal place of business, update the business name registration details in ASIC Connect. Stale details are a compliance issue.
• Renew on time. ASIC sends renewal notices by email at least 30 days before expiry. If the email address on file is out of date, you may not receive the notice. Log into ASIC Connect annually to confirm contact details are current for each business name registration you hold.
• Australian Consumer Law applies to each brand. Every brand name you trade under must comply with the Australian Consumer Law: accurate product descriptions, fair contract terms, and refund obligations. Multiple brands do not create any exemption.

Frequently asked questions

Getting the structure right from the start is much cheaper than untangling it later. Whether you need a quick business name registration, a second company, or a lawyer’s view on the right structure for your situation, Lawpath can help.