NZBN and the Business Registers
The New Zealand Business Number and how it's connected to the Business Registers
A New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) is a globally unique identifier, available to all Kiwi businesses. All registered businesses including companies, charitable trusts and incorporated societies are allocated an NZBN and automatically included on the NZBN Register.
If you own a registered business you can find your NZBN online at nzbn.govt.nz. Sole traders, partnerships and trusts can also register online for their NZBN.
What it means for you
You can find your NZBN on the Business Registers (businessregisters.govt.nz) or by searching at nzbn.govt.nz.
Your business’s NZBN links to the information you’re most often asked to share when doing business — like addresses and trading name. Others you work with can find your business details on the NZBN Register, meaning you don’t have to repeat the same information multiple times.
It’s for every Kiwi business
Any business in New Zealand can get an NZBN — including sole traders, partnerships, trusts and public sector entities. If your business interacts with other entity types, you can ask for their NZBN and access their information on the NZBN Register.
Having one unique way to identify businesses across sectors and industries will make it easier to do business in New Zealand, and reduce the amount of time spent repeating information. On the Business Registers (businessregisters.govt.nz), you can search by entity name, entity number or NZBN. If you manage more than one entity type (e.g. Limited Partnership and Charitable Trust), you can search across multiple registers on the Business Registers.
Refer to Searching the Business Registers for the full list of registers you can search.
Business Registers information that’s shared with the NZBN Register
Some information held on the Business Registers appears automatically on the NZBN Register, such as your business name and director details. You can choose to provide other information, like your trading name, website address and other contact details. The more information you make available on the NZBN Register, the easier it will be for other businesses to connect and transact with you.
You can provide voluntary entity details any time you need to update details for your business.
Keeping your business information up to date
It’s essential to keep your business details up to date. When something changes, the Business Registers (businessregisters.govt.nz) should be the first place you update your information. This will also automatically update your NZBN records.
Find out more
The NZBN website provides information about the NZBN and how to use it and the primary business data associated with an NZBN. You can also search the NZBN Register.