Why would you want an Australian bank account?
I’m about to start offering services to Australian clients and, rather than accepting credit card payments, I decided to set up an Australian bank account for the following reasons:
- Provides Australian clients with the convenience of paying their invoices in Australian dollars into an Australian bank account
- Increases my credibility and demonstrates that I’m serious about serving my Australian clients well and have made an effort to make things easier for them
- The Aussie dollars is so strong right now it makes sense to charge in Aussie dollars rather than converting from NZ to AU
How to set up an Australian Bank Account from New Zealand without visiting an Australian branch
- Choose The Commonwealth Bank of Australia
- If you read the details on the major Australian bank websites you will be told you have to turn up in person in Australia to complete the set up process. Commonwealth Bank offers a way around this because they own NZ’s ASB Bank
- Go to the section about “Moving to Australia” on the Commonwealth Bank website
- Read some of the guff, and when you are ready, click the button “Open an Account”
- A customer service representative will contact you within the next 24-48 hours
- If you are lucky you’ll get Mehnaaz [pronounce: “Men-arrzz”] Basha. She is awesome!
- Tell him/her that you won’t be able to get to Australia for 6 to 12 months but need to start making transactions well before you arrive
- They should then tell you that under special circumstances like that, you are able to submit your proof of identity to an ASB bank branch in person
- You’ll get emailed a bunch of forms for you to fill out
- Fill them in and present your passport as ID to an ASB bank teller (you don’t need an appointment but to save waiting, that might be a good idea)
- The ASB bank teller will sign off your ID
- Ask them to scan all the documents and email them directly to your contact person at The Commonwealth Bank
- This is essential. These documents need to come from an ASB bank teller’s email address as further proof of your identity
- Within 24-48 hours you’ll get confirmation that the documents have been received at The Commonwealth Bank will talk you through the types of accounts you have to choose from
- After that, the internet banking department “NetBank” will then call you to set up internet banking for you
Make your first deposit straight away
- You need to make a deposit into your new Australian bank account within 21 days to keep it open. NZ$160 will do the job (= AU$100)
- You should be able to use Internet Banking from your NZ account to make this payment
- You will probably have three choices:
- Telegraphic transfers (an electronic transaction)
- Direct credits (an electronic transaction)
- Bank drafts (a physical cheque mailed to the recipient)
- A Direct Credit is probably the best choice. It’s a bit cheaper (about $20) but doesn’t let you write a message in the particulars field of the transfer
- You might also be charged a fee for receiving the deposit
It costs AU$20 to send the money back to NZ
- So you’ll want to do this is large lump sums to make it economical
Risk of double taxation?
If you are earning Australian dollars into a bank account would the AU government like some income tax from you? I’m sure they would.
And when you transfer those Australian dollars into your NZ bank account would the NZ government like some income tax from you? I’m sure they would.
That’s exactly what “Double Taxation” is. And if AU wants 30% and NZ wants 30% that doesn’t leave you with much does it.
But don’t worry, Australia has a Double Taxation Agreement with New Zealand, so you’ll only be taxed in NZ. Do we have extra paperwork to fill in to make sure this happens? Probably, but I don’t know yet, but I’ll keep you informed.
Hi there. Once you have set up your oz account, have you tried doing an online payment to it from your NZ bank account using internet banking?
Yes Mike, and it has been a disaster so far. The money hasn’t turned up and I can’t even find the withdrawal from my NZ account! Very strange. The bank is trying to figure out what happened.
Just for reference, I tried this after moving to Australia (I still juggle money around) and it seemed to work fine. It took something like 2 – 4 days, but once it was transferred, it was all working fine. The Commeneanweath Bank website had specific details on how to get the transaction done (the international banking codes needed etc).
Could be just a one off with your problems, but good luck getting it sorted!
Thanks Stephen
My first transfer did completely disappear without a trace, but I tried another one last week and it took just 4 days to get through to Australia.
Hi,
Have you set up as a ‘branch’ in Australia?
If so, what was the process there?
Thanks,
Bob.
I don’t know.
My Great Grandson has a Commonwealth Bank Account in Brisbane… we have a ASBank in TeAwamutu,would like to make the occasional deposit when we visit T/A. We have the Account Number… can we make Deposits Please?
Thankyou
Teresa Rogers
I don’t know. You’ll have to talk to ASB Te Awamutu.
Did you find out about paying tax while earning Aus$, and what forms need to be filled in?
Hi Chelsea:
1) When you are earning $AU for business transactions you don’t need to pay tax to the AU govt (because of the free trade agreement)
2) When you withdraw those funds into an NZ bank account you don’t need to pay GST to the NZ govt because you weren’t able to add GST on to your AU invoices anyway
3) But once those funds are in your NZ bank account you will need to pay company tax or income tax
More info on the ird.govt.nz website.
Do you still have this account no problems? I wonder if they’ll start asking questions when you don’t arrive in AU when you said you would
I do. No problems. I said I’d pop in the next time I’m in Australia. I just haven’t been over yet 🙂
When I tried it forced me to enter a date within 3 months, or email them.
It seems both ASB and ANZ in New Zealand can help with bank accounts without having to pretend you’re going to live in australia
At the time, getting the account via ASB and ANZ was a huge, horrible drawn out process. Let me know how you go, I hope it’s improved 🙂
Hey Sheldon.
Just wondering how you dealt with the exchange rate and tax payments. If you get paid in AUD, what exchange rate do you use to calculate how much NZD you need to pay tax on? is it based on the rate at the time you get paid or is it based on the rate at the time you convert it back to AUD?
Cheers,
Yong
Your CBA account still functional 🙂 Trying to open one for business interest in Aus. Will see how it goes.
ah! Let me know if this method still works!
Do you need to be an ASB customer in NZ to be able to do this?
At the time of writing, you did not need to be an ASB customer
Hi Sheldon,
Have you or anyone else reading this managed to open an Australian Business Bank account from New Zealand? It sounds like you need a business registered in Australia to do this. The lady I spoke to told me you needed an ABN or a ACN.
Just to be clear, the process in this article is for private bank accounts, not business accounts. For a BUSINESS bank account, yes, you’ll need an Australian Business Number “ABN”. Not the easiest thing to get, it includes FAXING forms signed by a Justice of the Peace! But NZ businesses are eligible to get one, so start with that: https://www.business.gov.au/registrations/register-for-an-australian-business-number-abn