Government launches NZ Business Number
Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Commerce Minister Craig Foss today formally launched the New Zealand
Business Number (NZBN) at Xero in Wellington.
The NZBN is a core initiative of the Government’s Better Public Services for business (Result 9) programme, which is
designed to make it easier for businesses to work with government. It is proposed that a single identifying number is
assigned to all businesses, government agencies and commercial entities in New Zealand.
New Zealand Business Numbers were initially allocated to companies in December last year; and the Government today
announced a month-long consultation on options for extending coverage to other businesses, including sole traders.
“Having a single business number means that by 2016 businesses will only have to provide government with their
information once, which will automatically be shared across government agencies. That will make it easier, quicker, and
less complicated for businesses dealing with the Government,” Mr Joyce says.
“While the initial allocation of NZBNs to companies is a significant step towards making it easier for them to work with
government, around half of all New Zealand businesses are not companies. Public consultation on the NZBN will help us
determine which businesses should have one and how those who don’t currently have a NZBN will be able to get one.”
Businesses have been requesting a universal identifier for many years and similar approaches are used in other developed
countries, including Australia and Singapore.
Commerce Minister Craig Foss says it’s important that businesses provide feedback on how they would like to see the NZBN
working for them.
“Ultimately the NZBN is all about ensuring businesses can spend more time on their business and less time having to
interact with government. We would like to hear from businesses their views on who should be allocated an NZBN, what
information should be linked, the rules around using the number and how to ensure information is protected,” Mr Foss
says.
Feedback can be provided online at www.nzbn.business.govt.nz or sent to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and
Employment (MBIE).
The Ministry for Primary Industries, New Zealand Customs Service, Accident Compensation Corporation, Inland Revenue, New
Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Statistics New Zealand, Callaghan Innovation and MBIE have been working closely to
implement a single identifying number for all businesses and are committed to the using of the New Zealand Business
Number with business customers in future.
Consultation is open until 11 April 2014.
Questions & Answers
How will a business get a NZBN?
Registered companies have already been allocated an NZBN. We are now consulting on how and when to allocate NZBNs to the
other half of all New Zealand Businesses.
Business representative groups have told us that they wanted it to be as easy as possible for businesses to get their
NZBNs. We are investigating whether it is possible to allocate NZBNs to all businesses automatically.
Some businesses may want an NZBN before any automatic allocation occurs so we are looking at an application process
being available for those businesses.
When will businesses be able to use their NZBN?
Businesses other than companies should receive or be able to apply for an NZBN from mid-2015. How soon businesses can
use the number will depend on when government agencies and other businesses connected to your business start using it
with their customers.
Do they need to do anything differently?
No. At the moment, the NZBN will not replace the ACC, IRD or any other numbers that businesses use to identify their
business to various government agencies. However, work is underway to allow the NZBN to be the main identifier for
businesses when working with these agencies.
Will NZBNs and my information be public?
Information available on government business registers will remain public. For example, companies’ NZBNs are published
on the Companies Office Register alongside their other company information.
In the future, searches will show the NZBN issued to each business, including those not on a Companies Office register,
for example sole traders, partnerships and trusts. In addition, GS1 New Zealand’s website will provide a public
capability to search a GS1 database that includes government-issued NZBN as well as all GS1-issued Global Location
Numbers. The Discussion Document proposes giving businesses choices about what other information is also published.
Who will have access to a business’ information?
Some information will be publicly available, like the NZBN, the industry code and a business’ general location.
Government agencies that businesses deal with will receive primary business data, if they are entitled to it. This will
enable businesses to update their details in one place, which will automatically update in others.
Businesses will be in control of who else has access to this information and to other business information. Businesses
can choose to make information available to other government agencies or to business partners or to make it publicly
available. They will be able to share the number with their customers and other businesses.
What information will be kept centrally?
One of the purposes of the NZBN is to simplify a business’ interactions with government. A business owner will only need
to go to one place to update primary business data, because government agencies will all draw it from there.
It makes sense that the information that is used over and over by different government agencies is kept centrally. This
will be information like the business name and contact details. Information specific to a single government agency –
such as the sale and purchase details businesses provide to Inland Revenue for GST – will continue to be kept by the
agency that uses it in their own systems.
What if a business wants different government agencies to have different information about its business?
Primary business data will be common across all agencies. Agencies businesses interact with will need to keep specific
information about them which they will be able to use in their interactions with each business – for example, Inland
Revenue will still need to have a business’ accountant’s address to send mail to.
How will a business’ information be kept secure?
Business information is valuable and sometimes private. It is important to keep it safe and accurate and this is
increasingly relevant and important in a modern business environment. The legislation and the systems to administer the
NZBN will be designed to address risks around the misuse of information or the accidental release of information.
On-going Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA) will inform this work.
Ends