Opening a business as a sole trader

[sandeep.nakarmi]

My wife is CEO of her family business, a tourism company, back home in Nepal. She has been in that post for several years and has experience in guiding foreigners in and around Nepal,
from sightseeing to weeks of trekking in mountain base camps like Annapurna, Mt Everest etc. She is also a licensed tour guide there.

She is here in auckland with me now and just received her open work vis based on partnership.

I am thinking of getting my wife open a business (as a sole trader) to promote her family business in Nepal, say sort of a branch where we can attract local people who are interested in travelling and doing adventurous stuff in Nepal. Obviously I won't be involved in anyway as per conditions of my work visa.

Because this is entirely new for us, I want to seek advice from people who have knowledge on setting up a business as a sole trader. Do we have to come up with a business name and register it formally,
get a domain name and set a website? I understand that sole trader option does not require any legal formalities. We also chose this option as it would be ideal and less of a hassle for new comers like us
and gives us idea on potential growth prospect of our intended business.

Appreciate any ideas and views.
Thanks

[shawankit]

Setting up business is very easy in NZ and does not take much time and money . You do not need to have domain name or website , it not mandatory. Company name registration is not mandatory if you do not intend to use any company name - you can get your wife IRD Number & Registration for GST is as sole trader.

However if you do intend to have a company name - search and registration is simple online process with little to no paperwork involved.

Please look into below link for details and guide to set-up business - Its very straight forward (official IRD link)

http://www.ird.govt.nz/yoursituation...g/tax-for-bus/

Any q's please feel free to PM me on forum.

Cheers

[chrisl34]

You should also be careful as your wife's activities in NZ in generating business for the Nepal tourism company could create a NZ tax liability for the Nepal company on any NZ business generated for that company. This is on the basis that the income generated may have a source in NZ, as your wife would likely be viewed as an agent of the Nepal company.

[sandeep.nakarmi]

thanks for pointing that out chrisl.. I'll discuss with tax agent regarding this to know more about the tax obligations.

[incorporately]

Hi Sandeep

We are New Zealand based Company, provides services to startup and small business owners. If you need any help regarding setup your business, then you can contact us directly.

We can help you to Register your Company in New Zealand, Domain Registration, Trademark Search & Registration etc.

Visit our website @ www.incorporately.com/nz/ or Skype: call.incorporately

[Sun777]

You may want to follow this link for little bit of background on opening a company. You can set up the company in about a week and the fees is around $150 (if I remember correctly).

http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=36636

[chrisl34]

You may want to follow this link for little bit of background on opening a company. You can set up the company in about a week and the fees is around $150 (if I remember correctly).

http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=36636

You can set up a company within a day, where you have resident shareholders and directors. If any of your shareholders or directors are based overseas, the Companies Office have introduced new rules which require the non-residents to provide certification of their overseas address. This can add an extra few days, depending on access to the documents and someone to certify.

[Sun777]