Buy a Shelf Company in New Zealand

Foreign investors who want to set up a company in New Zealand have several choices. The most common ones are registering new companies with the Trade Register or buying other companies. The second option is preferred by those interested in starting to do business on the New Zealand market as soon as possible.

What are the characteristics of shelf companies in New Zealand?

• -          they are usually registered for a few months or years and have all the necessary documents to start economic activities right away;
• -          most of the ready-made companies in New Zealand are registered as limited liability companies;
• -          New Zealand shelf companies come with tax and VAT numbers and have no liabilities;
• -          they can be purchased quite fast through sale-purchase agreements.

What are the steps for purchasing a ready-made company in New Zealand?

1.        select the right type of structure and verify if it suits their requirements;
2.        have the sale-purchase agreement drafted and meet with the seller in order to complete the formalities;
3.        once the company is bought, the necessary changes, such as the trade name, the company’s address, shareholders and director names must be announced to the Trade Register;
4.        apply for the necessary licenses required to operate, if the case requires.

Why buy a shelf company in New Zealand?

1. the company’s constitutive documents: most of the time these documents are drawn up in a general form, however, we will verify them along with the list of shareholders and directors, if any were registered during its existence;
2. financial information: financial statements, inventory, audit reports (if any), transactional history; most of the shelf companies in NZ are offered for sale in a “clean” form, meaning that they have been registered but have not entered into any agreements; however, it is important to check if this is true;
3. assets: we will check if the company has any assets in its name, such as equipment, real estate used for business locations and others;
4. intellectual property: a verification of whether or not domestic and foreign patents, trademarks, copyrights exist for this company;
5. employees: shelf companies have generally not had any employees, however, we will check for this to be true;
6. others: our team will also check if the company has applied for any licenses or permits and if it has any environmental issues; we will also check any tax-related matters and whether or not the company was ever involved in litigation.

New Zealand company requirements

• - a standard 28% corporate income tax;
• - a 15% standard goods and services tax (this tax also has a reduced rate of 0% for some types of goods and services)l
• - a fringe benefits tax (FBT) between 49.25% and 63.93% on the value of the fringe benefits offered to employees;
• - there is no transfer tax, stamp duty, or net worth tax and inheritance tax; local authorities charge a real property tax at various rates.