Choose the right business structure step-by-step guide
Take out the guesswork out of choosing the right structure for your business

.
Sole trader? Company? Partnership? When you first start a business, you'll need to decide on its structure. Your business structure identifies how you operate as a trading business. It'll affect things like:
- who can make important decisions
- tax advantages and disadvantages
- how profits and losses are shared
- legal obligations and costs
Use our step-by-step guide to help decide what business structure is right for you.
Start here
business.vic.gov.au
Hot Issues
- Will a shareholders agreement protect a business from a family law dispute?
- ATO crackdown on profit restructuring leading to higher tax bills: RSM
- Super balance not a priority for young Aussies, SMC reports
- When to Update Your Business Trading Terms
- Support for rebuilding after natural disasters
- Are you ready for Payday superannuation?
- Calculate your costs to start a business
- Most Reliable Car Brands in 2026
- Payday super part 2: not quite ‘all systems go’
- Privacy Compliance Sweep 2026: Is Your Business Ready?
- 6 ways to improve your business plan
- ‘Looking like a rough start’: SMEs set to feel the pinch as CPI spikes
- Student loans debt update
- New SMSF education directions
- Accountants must keep ‘watchful eye’ on financial abuse
- Rare and vanishing: Animals That May Go Extinct Soon
- What is a Commercial Lease?
- 8 tips to improve your online sales
- ATO cracking down on tax dodgers trying to leave the country
- Digital Assets You Forgot You Own (and Why They Still Matter at Tax Time)
- ‘Not insurmountable’: What accountants need to know ahead of Payday Super
- Heading overseas? Centrelink and the ATO might need to know
- The ATO’s new draft rules could change your holiday home tax claims
- Which country produces the most electricity annually?
- Restructuring Family Businesses: From Partnership to Limited Company
- Choose the right business structure step-by-step guide
- ATO’s holiday home owner tax changes spur taxpayers to be ‘wary and proactive’
- Payday Super part 1: understanding the new law
- A refresher on Medicare levy and Medicare levy surcharge.
- Protecting yourself from misinformation
- Super gender gap slowly narrows
- Countries with the largest collection or eucalyptus trees
