The 550,000 New Zealand businesses on the Companies Register will be issued a unique New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) by the end of 2013, making it easier to interact with government.

Announced by Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Commerce Minister Craig Foss, officials claim the process will make dealing with government and other businesses easier and quicker for firms.

“Having a single business number means that by 2016 businesses will only have to provide government with their information once, which will be automatically shared across government departments,” Joyce says.

“From early 2014 businesses are expected to be able to use the NZBN when paying each other via automated invoicing.

"Businesses will be able to use their NZBN to interact with government agencies, such as NZTE and Callaghan Innovation, from June and this will be progressively widened over time to other government departments.”

ACC, MBIE, Customs, NZTE, Statistics NZ, MPI, Inland Revenue and Callaghan Innovation support the implementation of the NZBN and have made a commitment to ensure it is compatible with their online systems.

“During on-going consultation with Kiwi businesses, it has become clear that companies want the Government to reduce the amount of time they spend providing information when interacting with more than one government agency,” Foss says.

“Businesses have indicated they are looking at new services that can be developed and introduced using the single business number as the authoritative source of information.”