What these documents are

How many employees before you pay payroll tax?

It is not a headcount. Payroll tax is worked out on total Australian wages, the threshold differs by state, and related businesses can be grouped and assessed together. Somebody with thirteen part-timers can be nowhere near it; somebody with eight well-paid people can be over.

So the honest answer to the question is that it is the wrong question — which is worth knowing, because the wrong version of it gets passed around a lot.

Whether a business has crossed the line is a bookkeeping question, and a bookkeeper or accountant is who answers it. Once the registration exists, it is a document with a renewal date on it, and that is the part Raisin holds.

The documents

ABN

An Australian Business Number: eleven digits identifying a business to government and to anyone it deals with.

Issued by the Australian Business Register. It appears on invoices, and anyone can look one up on the public register to see the entity name behind it and whether it is still active. It does not expire, though it can be cancelled.

Activity statement

The form a business lodges with the tax office reporting GST, and amounts withheld from wages.

Usually called a BAS. It is lodged monthly or quarterly depending on the business, and what proves it was lodged is the receipt that comes back rather than the form itself. A client almost never asks for one; an accountant asks constantly.

Certificate of currency

A one-page statement from an insurer confirming a policy is in force, who is covered, for how much, and until when.

It is the document people mean when they ask for "your insurances". The insurer or the broker issues it, it names the insured entity and the period of cover, and it stops being useful the day that period ends. A new one comes with each renewal, which is why the copy a client has on file goes out of date without anybody touching it.

Where this comes up: A client will not issue the contract without a certificate

Director ID

A fifteen-digit number identifying a company director, held by the person rather than by the company.

A director applies once and keeps the same number for life, across every company they are a director of. Prequalification forms ask for it to confirm that the person signing is who they say they are. It does not expire.

Where this comes up: An RFQ or a prequalification form wants your insurances

Labour hire licence

A state licence to supply workers to another business, required in some Australian states and not others.

Queensland runs a licensing scheme with a public register; New South Wales does not have one. The licence renews annually, and a client checking whether a supplier is licensed can look it up rather than asking. It is the document on this list that businesses outside the industry are most surprised exists.

Where this comes up: An RFQ or a prequalification form wants your insurances

Payroll tax registration

A registration with a state revenue office, held by businesses whose wages reach that state’s threshold.

Nobody asks to see it. No client wants a copy and no portal has a field for it, which is why it is easy to forget it exists — until it renews. See the question above for why the threshold is not a number of employees.

Where this comes up: Taking on staff

Professional indemnity

Insurance covering claims that advice, design or professional work caused somebody a loss.

Asked for where the work involves judgement rather than labour — consulting, design, specification, advice. Proved by a certificate of currency like any other policy, and often renewing on its own date rather than at the end of the financial year.

Where this comes up: An RFQ or a prequalification form wants your insurances · Renewal season

Public liability

Insurance covering injury to other people, or damage to their property, arising from the work.

The one most often asked for by name, and the one a contract usually names a minimum sum insured for. Proved by a certificate of currency, which is what a client means when they say they need to see your public liability.

Where this comes up: An RFQ or a prequalification form wants your insurances · Renewal season

Workers compensation

Insurance covering employees who are injured at work, run as a separate scheme in each state.

Because the schemes are state-based, a business operating across a border deals with more than one of them, on more than one renewal date. Proved by a certificate of currency, which prequalification portals ask for whenever a business has people on the payroll.

Where this comes up: An RFQ or a prequalification form wants your insurances · Renewal season · Taking on staff