Which Licences and Permits Does Your Australian Business Actually Need?

There is one question almost every new Australian business owner asks and almost nobody answers clearly: do I need a licence for this?

The reason it is hard to answer is that there is no single Australian business licence, no central register you can check your name against, and no letter that arrives to tell you something is missing. Licensing here is stitched together from federal law, eight sets of state and territory laws, and hundreds of local councils that each write their own planning and permit rules. What you need depends on what you do, where you do it, whether you employ anyone, and sometimes on details as specific as whether you handle unpackaged food or run a compressor after hours.

Most owners land in one of two places: they assume that because they have an ABN and pay their tax they must be fine, or they assume the worst and stall on trading at all. Both are expensive.

What makes this worth taking seriously is that the cost of getting it wrong is asymmetric. Getting it right usually means a form, a fee and a wait. Getting it wrong in a licensed occupation can mean three things at once — the work may be an offence under the relevant state Act; your contract for that work may be difficult or impossible to enforce, so a customer who refuses to pay may simply not have to; and your insurer may decline a claim arising from unlicensed work, turning a defect into a personal liability. Add a head contractor removing you from site or a council closing a food premises, and the downside is not proportionate to the upside of skipping the paperwork.

This guide will not tell you which licences you need. Nobody writing at a distance honestly can. What it will do is show you the shape of the system, name the regulators who actually decide, and point you at the free Australian Government tool built for exactly this question.

The three layers of government

Every Australian business sits under three layers of regulation at once. Owners routinely handle the first two and forget the third.

Layer	What it controls	Typical examples
Federal (Commonwealth)	Identity, tax, employment standards, national schemes and anything crossing borders	ABN and business name registration, GST and PAYG withholding, director ID, trade marks, NDIS provider registration, heavy vehicle regulation, telecommunications and broadcasting, import and export permits
State or territory	Occupational licensing, workplace safety, consumer protection, health, liquor, gaming, environment protection	Electrical, plumbing, gasfitting, building and trade contractor licences; working with children checks; liquor licences; workers compensation; food safety legislation; security and real estate licensing
Local council	Land use, premises, amenity and public space	Food business registration, home-based business permits, planning permits and change of use, signage approvals, footpath trading, waste and grease trap requirements, noise and operating hours, temporary and mobile food permits

A concrete example. A cafe owner registers a company and gets a director ID from the Commonwealth. The state food Act and the Food Standards Code govern how food is handled and who must be a food safety supervisor. The local council registers the premises, inspects it, approves the fit-out through planning and building processes, decides whether the shopfront sign needs a permit, decides whether tables can go on the footpath, and specifies the grease trap. Miss the Commonwealth layer and the ATO writes to you. Miss the council layer and you cannot open.

The same pattern applies to a mobile mechanic, a physiotherapist and a landscaper — federal registrations, a state occupational or contractor licence, and council rules on premises, noise, vehicles and waste.

Council is the forgotten layer because it feels administrative rather than legal, and because nothing about registering a company prompts you to think about land use. It is also where enforcement is most visible, because council officers physically visit premises.

Start with ABLIS

The Australian Business Licence and Information Service — ABLIS — is a free Australian Government service built to solve precisely this problem. You describe your business and its location, and it returns the licences, permits, registrations and codes of practice that apply to you across all three levels of government, with links to the responsible agency for each.

It is genuinely the best free starting point available, and it is underused because most people have never heard of it.

How to use it properly

The quality of the ABLIS result depends entirely on the quality of the description you give it. A few habits make the difference.

Describe what you actually do, not what your industry is called. ABLIS keys off activities. "Cafe" returns less than "prepare and sell food and drink for consumption on the premises, sell packaged alcohol, play recorded music, trade on the footpath". Each of those activities pulls in a different obligation. If you do it, list it.

Use the real trading address, including the suburb. Council obligations change across a boundary line. If you have not signed a lease yet, run the search for each shortlisted address — the difference between two councils can change your fit-out timeline materially.

Search each activity separately if you are diversified. A builder who also hires out equipment and runs a small retail counter is running three regulatory profiles. Combined searches tend to under-report.

Include the things you plan to do, not just today's operations. Adding a second vehicle, employing your first apprentice, taking on government work, moving into a commercial kitchen or offering services to NDIS participants each changes the answer. Run the search for the business you are building.

Save and date the results. ABLIS lets you download a personalised report. Keep it — it evidences a genuine attempt to comply, gives your accountant and lawyer a shared starting document, and re-running it later shows what has changed.

What ABLIS will not tell you

This is the part people get wrong, so it is worth being blunt.

ABLIS tells you what applies. It does not tell you whether you qualify, or how to succeed. A licence may be listed as required while you personally lack the qualification, experience, financial capacity or character requirements to be granted one. Those tests sit with the regulator.

It also will not tell you how long an application takes, what evidence the regulator wants, whether your specific job sits above or below a licensing threshold, or how a grey-area activity will be classified. Those classification questions are worth asking the regulator directly and in writing.

Finally, ABLIS covers government requirements, not contractual or scheme obligations — the insurance a head contractor demands, the accreditation a provider network requires, the association membership a supplier insists on. Those are not law, but they are just as binding on whether you can work.

Treat the ABLIS output as a verified checklist, not a clearance certificate. Government tools and templates referenced are © Commonwealth of Australia, licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU.

Registrations every business needs first

Before licensing, there is a layer of registration. The distinction matters more than it sounds: registrations make you identifiable and taxable, licences make you permitted. Holding every registration in the country does not make unlicensed electrical work lawful.

Most of these can be applied for together through the Australian Government's business registration service.

Australian Business Number (ABN). Your identifier for dealing with government and other businesses, issued through the Australian Business Register. Without one, businesses paying you may be required to withhold tax at the top rate. Entitlement depends on genuinely carrying on an enterprise, which is a test, not a formality.

Business name. Registered with ASIC if you trade under anything other than your own legal name or your company's name. Registering a business name gives you the right to trade under it — it does not give you exclusive rights to it. That is a trade mark, which is a separate application to IP Australia, and the two are regularly confused. It is entirely possible to register a business name and still receive a letter demanding you stop using it.

GST registration. Compulsory once your turnover reaches the registration threshold set by the ATO, and compulsory from day one for some activities regardless of turnover, including taxi and ride-sourcing services. Below the threshold it is optional, and there are sensible reasons to register early and sensible reasons not to. Confirm the current threshold with the ATO or your accountant rather than relying on a figure someone quoted you.

Tax file number. Sole traders use their individual TFN. Companies, partnerships and trusts need their own.

PAYG withholding. Required once you pay employees, and in some cases contractors under voluntary agreements or where no ABN is quoted. This is the point where you also enter the Single Touch Payroll, superannuation and workers compensation obligations, and where the Fair Work Ombudsman becomes relevant for awards, pay rates, record keeping and payslips.

Director identification number. Every director of an Australian company must hold one, applied for personally through the Australian Business Registry Services. It is tied to the individual, not the company, and it is obtained once and kept for life.

Occupational licensing by trade

This is where the state and territory layer dominates, and where the same trade can be regulated by entirely different agencies depending on the border you are standing behind. The table below shows who decides, not what you need.

Trade	VIC	NSW	QLD	WA
Electrical	Energy Safe Victoria	NSW Fair Trading	Electrical Safety Office, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland	Building and Energy (DEMIRS)
Plumbing	Victorian Building Authority	NSW Fair Trading	QBCC	Plumbers Licensing Board, within Building and Energy
Gasfitting	Energy Safe Victoria	NSW Fair Trading	Petroleum and Gas Inspectorate, Resources Safety and Health Queensland	Building and Energy
Building and construction	Victorian Building Authority	NSW Fair Trading	QBCC	Building and Energy
Food handling	State food legislation, enforced by local council	NSW Food Authority and local council	Queensland Health and local council	Department of Health and local government
Health practitioners	Ahpra and the National Boards, nationally	Ahpra	Ahpra	Ahpra
NDIS services	NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, nationally	As VIC	As VIC	As VIC
Heavy vehicle	NHVR	NHVR	NHVR	Main Roads WA (WA is outside the HVNL)

Electrical

The trigger is broad and it surprises people: in every state, performing electrical installation work on a fixed installation generally requires a licence, and the exemptions are narrower than the folklore suggests. Repairing an appliance, wiring a shed, installing a light fitting and connecting a new circuit are not equivalent activities under the law. Licences are typically issued to individuals for the work itself and separately to businesses that contract for it, meaning a licensed electrician who starts a company may need a second registration before invoicing customers directly. Certificates of electrical safety or compliance are usually required after prescribed work.

Plumbing and gasfitting

Similar structure, different regulators. Most states license plumbing by class — water supply, sanitary, drainage, roofing, mechanical services, gasfitting and more — so being licensed does not mean being licensed for everything. Gas work is frequently regulated separately from water plumbing and sometimes by a different agency entirely, as the table shows. Compliance certificates and notification of work are standard.

Building and construction

Two things usually trigger licensing: the type of work and its value. Most states set a monetary threshold above which building work requires a licensed builder, and separately require registration for particular categories such as domestic building, demolition or waterproofing. Domestic building work also commonly triggers mandatory home warranty or domestic building insurance arranged before work starts or before payment is taken. The threshold and insurance rules differ meaningfully between states — check with the regulator for the state you are working in, not the one you live in.

Food handling

There is no food licence issued by the Commonwealth. Food Standards Australia New Zealand writes the Food Standards Code, which states and territories adopt into their own food Acts, which local councils then enforce. What that means in practice: your food business registration comes from council, your food safety supervisor and food handler training requirements come from state law, and the technical standards for handling, labelling, temperature control and allergen management come from the national Code.

Health and NDIS

Registered health professions — physiotherapy, nursing, psychology, medicine and others — are regulated nationally through Ahpra and the National Boards, and individual registration is a condition of practising. Providing supports to NDIS participants is a separate question governed by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, with registered and unregistered pathways, worker screening requirements and a practice standards audit for registered providers depending on the supports delivered. The two systems are independent: being registered with Ahpra does not make you an NDIS provider, and the reverse is equally true.

Transport and heavy vehicles

Once a vehicle exceeds the mass threshold in the Heavy Vehicle National Law, the NHVR regime applies across participating states and territories — fatigue management, mass and dimension limits, vehicle standards, accreditation schemes and, importantly, chain of responsibility duties that reach beyond the driver to the operator, consignor and anyone who influences transport activity. Western Australia sits outside the HVNL and runs its own regime through Main Roads WA. Passenger transport, rideshare and driving instruction are licensed separately again at state level.

What local council controls

If you skip one section of this guide, do not skip this one.

Food business registration. Any premises where food is sold or handled — cafe, home kitchen, van, market stall, commercial kitchen — is registered and inspected by council, with the classification driving inspection frequency and requirements.

Home-based business permits. Councils set what is permitted from a residential property: floor area used, whether clients may visit, non-resident staff, deliveries, commercial vehicle parking, materials storage and signage. Many home businesses are permitted outright; some need a planning permit. The difference is set in the planning scheme, not by how quiet you keep it.

Planning and change of use. Taking a lease on premises previously used for something else frequently triggers a change-of-use application, even when nothing physical changes — a shop becoming a food premises, an office becoming a clinic, a warehouse becoming a gym. Approval can take longer than the lease negotiation did. Never sign assuming the use is approved; make the lease conditional on obtaining approval.

Signage and footpath trading. Shopfront signs, illuminated signs and A-frames can be regulated by planning controls. Tables, chairs and merchandise on public land need a permit, usually renewed annually with conditions on clearance widths and hours.

Waste and grease traps. Food premises typically need a grease arrestor and a trade waste agreement with the water authority. Raise it before the fit-out is drawn, not after.

Mobile and temporary food permits. Trading across council boundaries has its own notification pathway. Register with your principal council and confirm what each additional council and event organiser requires before you commit to bookings.

Insurance that behaves like a licence

Workers compensation is compulsory once you employ. It is administered by state and territory schemes rather than nationally — WorkSafe Victoria, icare in NSW, WorkCover Queensland, WorkCover WA and their equivalents — so the process, premium basis and definitions differ. The trap is the definition of "worker", which in several jurisdictions extends to certain contractors who look self-employed on paper. If you engage subcontractors regularly, confirm your position with the scheme rather than assuming. Underlying work health and safety duties come from state WHS legislation modelled on the framework published by Safe Work Australia, which develops model laws but does not itself regulate your business.

Public liability and professional indemnity are usually not legally required for most business types — and yet they function as licences. Head contractors will not let you on site without a certificate of currency. Landlords require it in the lease, councils for footpath trading and market stalls, government panels and large customers in procurement. Some professional schemes mandate professional indemnity as a condition of registration. Whether or not the law compels it, the market does.

Keeping licences current

A licence is a state, not an event.

Renewals run on a cycle that rarely aligns with your financial year, and notices go to the address the regulator has, which is often the one you gave them years ago. Put every renewal date and every registered-address update in one calendar with a reminder well before the due date.

Continuing professional development applies in many licensed occupations — building, plumbing, electrical in some states, health professions, financial services — and is usually audited at renewal rather than checked in advance. Keep certificates as you earn them.

A lapsed licence mid-job is a live problem. Depending on the jurisdiction, work performed while unlicensed can be treated as unlicensed work regardless of the fact you held a licence the week before and will again next week. If you discover a lapse, stop the regulated work and contact the regulator about what applies to the work already done. Do not quietly keep going and backdate.

Keep evidence accessible. Clients, head contractors, insurers and auditors ask for the same bundle: licence numbers and expiry dates, certificates of currency, qualifications, worker screening clearances and food safety supervisor certificates. One folder anyone in the business can produce within the hour saves more time than it costs to maintain.

If you have been trading without one

This happens often, usually to conscientious people who genuinely did not know. The useful response is neither panic nor denial.

Stop the exposure first. Cease the specific activity that may be unlicensed. Do not take on new work of that kind while you sort it out. Continuing after you have formed a suspicion is materially worse than the period before.

Work out what applies before you act. Run ABLIS honestly, then confirm with the regulator's published guidance. Sometimes what felt like a breach turns out to sit within an exemption, below a threshold, or in a category you did not realise you already held.

Get advice before you disclose. Speak to a lawyer or an accredited business adviser — the Australian Government's adviser finder can point you to services in your state — so you understand your position and how to frame a disclosure. This is not about hiding anything. It is about disclosing accurately.

Voluntary disclosure generally goes better than discovery. Most Australian regulators publish enforcement policies that treat cooperation, self-reporting and prompt rectification as mitigating factors, and concealment as aggravating. That is not a guarantee of a soft outcome, but the difference in trajectory between coming forward and being caught is real and documented in those policies.

Fix the systems, not just the incident, and raise it with your insurance broker now rather than during a claim. Regulators respond well to evidence that the gap cannot recur — a compliance calendar, a checklist before quoting outside your usual scope, a named person responsible for renewals.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a licence to run a business from home? Possibly, and the requirement usually comes from council rather than the state. Councils set planning rules for home-based businesses covering floor area used, client visits, non-resident staff, deliveries, vehicle parking and signage. Many home businesses fit within permitted use; others need a planning permit or change-of-use approval. Separately, whatever you do at home may still need an occupational licence — working from your garage does not exempt an electrician from holding an electrical licence.

Do I need to register in every council area I trade in? For fixed premises you deal with the council where the premises sits. For mobile and temporary operations the position differs and catches people out. Food businesses have a national notification scheme designed so a mobile business registers with one principal council, but you generally still need to notify or seek permits from other councils where you trade, and event organisers often require proof. Confirm the arrangement with your principal council before taking bookings across boundaries.

What happens if I have been trading without a licence I needed? Unlicensed work in a licensed trade can be an offence, your contracts for that work may be hard or impossible to enforce for payment, and your insurer may decline a claim arising from it. Most regulators distinguish between someone who comes forward and someone who is discovered. Stop the exposure, get advice, then disclose accurately.

Is an ABN a licence? No. An ABN is an identifier that lets you invoice, register for GST and deal with the ATO. It says nothing about whether you are permitted to do the work. Registrations are about being visible and taxed correctly; licences are about being allowed to operate. You can hold every registration and still be trading unlawfully.

Does ABLIS tell me everything I need? ABLIS is the best free starting point in Australia and covers all three layers in one search, but treat the results as a checklist to verify rather than a clearance. It reports what applies to the business you describe, so an inaccurate description produces an incomplete list. It does not assess whether you qualify, how to pass an application, or what your contracts and industry schemes demand.

Do I legally need public liability insurance? For most business types it is not itself legally mandated, but it behaves like a licence because head contractors, landlords, councils, markets and government panels require a certificate of currency before letting you work. Workers compensation is different — genuinely compulsory once you employ, administered by state and territory schemes, and the definition of "worker" can extend to some contractors.

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This guide is general information only and is not legal, financial or professional advice. It does not take account of your particular circumstances. Licensing requirements, thresholds, fees and penalties vary between states, territories and councils and change over time. Before acting, confirm what applies to you with the relevant regulator, and seek advice from a qualified lawyer, accountant or accredited business adviser. Government tools and templates referenced are © Commonwealth of Australia, licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU.