Pete39

Hello,

I wonder if anyone could advise me please. Currently in the UK I am employed but occasionally do some work for myself at weekends so I declare this on my tax return. I have a .co.uk website for my occasional work. When I migrate I want to be the identical situation. The question is that I have looked now at purchasing a website domain for my occasional weekend work but to secure a .com.au domain they are asking for an ABN which I can't supply to them. If when I arrive I register for my ABN as a sole trader, (presumably), does this affect me working for an employer? ie can I be a sole trader and be employed by a company?

Thanks

SoCalDon

I have purchased loads of domains in Australia and yes, you do need an ABN to do so. Anyone can get an ABN and they don't affect your employment in any way. Obtaining an ABN is free and it's an online application. I haven't checked but it may even be possible to get one without an address in Australia - could be worthwhile taking a look.

Amazulu

Just apply for an ABN online - easy peasy

Yes you can be a sole trader and employed at the same time

Pete39

Thanks all for your replies. I just tried now applying from the UK but once I submitted the form it came back with an error saying they could not confirm my identity so I am thinking I may need to be physically there with an Aus address before I can get the ABN. That is a bit of a pain as I wanted my website all set up ready to go but not to worry.

teza

Given that you can't get a TFN without being in Australia physically, I would assume the same applies to ABN, especially if you don't have TFN yet

GarryP

Get the .com and check that the .com.au is available. Then when you are here you can get the .com.au if you want.

Personally I'd only ever see it as secondary - too much hassle for something that only ever means something to a local market.

Pete39

Hi Garry, cheers for the reply. What do you mean when you say secondary? Do you mean a .com.au isn't so important?

Alan Collett

TFN first, then an ABN - is my recommendation.

Best regards.

calman014

I can assist in registering your domain or giving you accurate info. You don't have to be in AU to register the domain nor do you need any special documentation. PM me for advice.

Wol

I've been toying with the idea of registering a domain just to have a static email address in case I change my ISP - is this viable?

SoCalDon

It is doable but you have the expense of buying the domain ($11 or so per annum) as well as hosting it on a web server somewhere which could easily cost $10 per month or more. Unless you really want to personalise things, it's straightforward enough to get a free hotmail, yahoo, gmail or loads of other free email address providers.

Wol

Thanks for the reply. I have a gmail account, but have been unable to get into it for months: their "security" is so involved it keeps going round and round in circles! I try to log in and it won't accept my password, so I arrange for a new one, which it confirms - then says it's incorrect next time. I've given up on it, which was the reason for thinking about a personal domain.

GarryP

You don't really need the webserver.

All you do is redirect the mail to a free email provider, so [email protected] forwards mail to [email protected]. Of course that doesn't allow you to send and have it appear from that address, but to do that you only need a very minimal server service (eg like free Free Web Hosting with PHP and MySQL, Website Builder, No Ads ).

Beoz

If you want your business to be global and seen as global, then you need a global address ending in .com

If you opt for the .com.au now you are stuck local moving into the future.

GarryP

Indeed, chose a name that you can get the .com of. You can register it no matter what, and use it whilst you start up. Then you can get the .com.au when you have the ABN, and redirect it to the same site.

There are also rules about what name you can use for a .com.au (in theory) which there aren't for .com

The only wrinkle is appearance and ranking on google.com.au They use either the domain name or the hosting location to say if you are local and therefore should get promoted up the ranks for returns in Australia. So if you have the .com and host outside Australia, you will suffer for local traffic. Easily fixed either way.