How to verify an employer ABN in Australia

An ABN (Australian Business Number) is the 11-digit identifier every registered Australian business must have. If a job ad or offer has given you an ABN — or you have asked for one — checking it before you accept a role or share personal documents is a quick, sensible step. Here is how to read what an ABN check shows you, and what it cannot.

An ABN check pulls a handful of facts straight from the Australian Business Register. It tells you whether the ABN is active or has been cancelled, the entity name the ABN is registered to, the entity type (company, sole trader, trust or partnership), whether the business is registered for GST, and how long the ABN has been active. You can see the same record yourself on ABN Lookup, and check company details on ASIC Connect.

An ABN check cannot tell you that an employer is who they claim to be. A record can be active and accurate while the person emailing you has nothing to do with it — someone could use a real company's ABN in a fake job ad. So the most useful habit is to check that the ABN matches the company name in the ad, and to ask the employer directly if anything does not line up. If a job ad still feels wrong, you can report it to Scamwatch.

A recently registered ABN is not a concern on its own. Plenty of genuine businesses register an ABN and begin hiring within weeks; it is only worth a closer look when it sits alongside other absent signals, such as no GST registration combined with pressure to act fast.

When the company name on the ABN does not match the job ad, that is often just a trading name — many businesses operate under a name different from their legal registered name. Ask the employer to confirm their legal name and ABN in writing.

If an employer will not provide an ABN at all, remember that every Australian employer can produce one on request, and reluctance to share it is worth noting before you hand over personal documents. The frequently asked questions cover the most common situations.