Single Business Number - What's in it for you?

There is currently no common identifier for a business in New Zealand. A business registered with the New Zealand Companies Office is not necessarily understood to be the same business by ACC, Statistics NZ, or other public or private sector organisations. There is no link between a business and its company number, tax number, or ACC number, for example. A single business number (SBN) is a public unique identifier - for each business - that would change this.

SBNs already exist in Australia, Canada and a number of other countries. These have normally been created by government departments for the purpose of making it easier to collect information from businesses. The New Zealand Government believes there are some great opportunities associated with SBNs such as being able to connect businesses to existing government systems with one number, and benefits that flow on to businesses and the wider community.

The Ministry of Economic Development is in the initial stages of investigating what this would mean for New Zealand businesses in terms of the benefits and opportunities it would offer.

We've been talking to groups of business people all around New Zealand to gain insight into what the benefits and issues would be. Together we've come up with some ideas and we'd be keen to hear your thoughts on these. We've created a 10 minute survey we'd love you to complete, it's anonymous and a unique opportunity for you to have your say in what could be a game changer for New Zealand.

Have your say