Registering a shareholder
Adding shareholders to the Companies Register
At the time you submit your online application for incorporation, you need to register every shareholder in your company. Following incorporation, you must register each new shareholder and update your shareholding details as events occur.
In this guide
Who can be a shareholder
You can only register a shareholder in your company if they are:
- an individual person
- an New Zealand company, or
- another legal entity (such as an overseas registered company or limited partnership).
Registering shareholders when you incorporate
When you apply to incorporate your company you must register each shareholder.
You must record each shareholder's personal details and state how many shares they hold in your company. The information you need to provide depends on the type of shareholder.
Filing shareholder consent forms
Once you have added a shareholder's details to the Companies Register, we email you a consent form in that person's name. This form must be signed by the shareholder and returned to us within 20 working days.
Preparing shareholder's consents
If you prefer to prepare consent forms ahead of time, download these blank forms.
Registering shareholders after you incorporate
After your company is incorporated, you may decide to issue further shares. When you notify us of a new share issue, you must also register any new shareholders.
Depending on the type of shareholder, you must provide:
- for individuals — their full legal name and residential address.
- for registered NZ companies — the full company name and incorporation or registration number.
- for trustees — the full legal name and residential address for each trustee jointly holding shares.
- for other entities — its full legal name and street address.
Who can register a shareholder after incorporation
To register a shareholder after your company is incorporated you must have:
- a RealMe® login
- an online account with us
- confirmed authority with us.
First add the shareholder's details
To register a new shareholder, log in to your online services account, enter the company name, company number or New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) and follow these steps.
- Log in
- Select the company from your dashboard.
- On the 'Company summary' screen, select the 'Shareholdings' tab.
- Select 'Update details' and check the box on the 'Acknowledgement' screen.
- Select 'Add new shareholder'.
- Select the type of shareholder — you have the option to:
- select an available director who is becoming a shareholder, or
- add a new person, NZ registered company or other entity.
- Enter the details of the person or entity.
- Select 'Continue'.
Then allocate shares to the shareholder
You must now add the shareholder to a share allocation, and record how many shares they hold in that allocation.
- Select the 'Share allocations' tab.
- Select the share allocation to which the shareholder is to be added.
- Select the shareholder's name from the drop-down menu.
- In the 'Number of shares' field, enter the number of shares allocated to the shareholder.
- Increase or decrease the number of shares allocated to other shareholders to ensure the total allocated matches the total number of shares available.
Keeping shareholding details up to date
You must keep details of your shareholdings up to date on your own company share register, and notify us of changes when you complete your company annual return.
You can also update your shareholder information on the Companies Register at any time.
Other guides in
Shares and shareholders
- What it means to be a shareholder
- Filing director and shareholder consent forms
- Issuing shares in a company
- Managing share allocations
- Updating a shareholder's details
- Distributions to shareholders