If we can't confirm your firm.
What a failed check, a check we couldn't run and a review each mean when you're signing up.
What we check, and why
Before a firm exists here, we confirm three separate things: that you are who you say, that the business is on the register, and that you can act for it. Each one is answered by a source rather than by what you typed, because a firm's identity isn't ours to hand out on trust.
Most of it takes seconds and you won't notice it. When something stops, the screen tells you which of the three it was and which of the three answers below you got.
A register said no
A source answered, and what it holds doesn't match what you gave us. That's a finding about the details, so it's usually something small: an ABN with a digit out, a name recorded differently, or a company record that hasn't caught up with a change you've already made.
Check the numbers against your own paperwork first. If they're right and the register still disagrees, write to us. Nobody will answer that automatically — a person reads it, puts your details next to what the register answered, and takes it from there.
We couldn't run the check
No answer came back. A register was down, a service timed out, or a lookup we rely on isn't reachable. That's ours, not yours, and it says nothing about your firm.
We retry. You can also ask us to run it again at any time, and nothing you've entered is lost while you wait.
Someone here is looking at it
Some answers are neither yes nor no. Your name might be close to the one on the company record without matching it exactly. You might be on the record as a secretary, which is a real office and still not authority to act for the company. A trust or a partnership names no person we can match at all.
None of those are refusals. They're questions, and a person answers them rather than a rule guessing. We'll come back to you, and we may ask for a written authority or an appointment document.
What happens to your details meanwhile
Nothing is claimed while you're waiting. Typing an ABN into the form doesn't reserve it, and your firm's identifiers are only claimed when the firm is actually created.
An application you don't come back to lapses after 14 days, and the details a check matched on are deleted on their own schedule. Start again whenever you're ready.
Still stuck? Ask us. Anything about a live file, money or a complaint reaches a person.
Talk to us