Filing director and shareholder consent forms
Completing the registration process
When you submit your online application for incorporation, you must register all company directors and shareholders. Each director and shareholder must sign a consent form and return it to us for their registration — and the incorporation of your company — to be finalised.
In this guide
Distributing consent forms for signing
Once you've entered your directors' and shareholders' details, we'll email you a consent form for each person to sign and return.
These forms are pre-filled with all the necessary information and can be:
- saved to your computer and emailed to each director and shareholder, or
- downloaded, printed and distributed for signature.
Preparing director's and shareholder’s consents
If you prefer to prepare consent forms ahead of time, download these blank forms.
Signing consent forms
Directors
Each director must sign a consent form and, in doing so, certify they aren't disqualified from being appointed or holding office.
Sometimes we might request additional information to confirm the identity or personal information of a proposed director.
Shareholders
Shareholder consent forms should be signed by the shareholder themselves. In some circumstances, an agent or solicitor may need to sign a form on a shareholder's behalf.
If a shareholder holds shares in more than one share allocation they may need to sign multiple consent forms. The shareholder must sign and return each consent form they receive.
Sometimes we request additional information to confirm the identity or personal information of a proposed shareholder. Where the shareholder is a company with an overseas address, we may request additional proof of identity from a director or other senior representative of the company.
Where an agent is signing
An agent must provide written confirmation of their authorisation to sign on behalf of a shareholder.
A copy of that authorisation must be submitted along with the consent form. The following example shows the authorisation wording we generally consider acceptable.
Where a solicitor is signing
A solicitor who holds power of attorney can sign a consent form on behalf of a shareholder.
In this instance, a certificate of non-revocation must be provided by the solicitor, along with the signed consent form. This certifies that the solicitor has current power of attorney to sign legally binding documents on behalf of the shareholder.
Time limits for returning consent forms
You must return a signed consent form for each company director and shareholder within 20 working days of submitting your online application for incorporation.
The forms must have been returned and accepted for registration before 5pm on the last working day of that 20 day period.
Uploading consent forms
For each consent form you're uploading, check that:
- consent has been given on the correct form
- the form is completed and signed
- the director or shareholder details match those supplied in your incorporation application
- you have scanned and saved each consent to your computer
- One single-page file per consent
- Best file type is PDF
- File size must be less than 20 MB
- the document image is readable and of good quality
Step by step
To upload consents you must have:
- a RealMe® login
- an online services account with the Companies Register
- confirmed authority to act on behalf of the company.
- Log in to your online services account.
- Go to the 'My Unfinished Business' section of your dashboard.
- Select the company from the 'My Tasks' list.
- Upload each consent form.
Processing consent forms
During normal business hours, we aim to process consent forms within one hour of receipt. Consent forms received outside normal business hours are processed on the next working day.
If we accept your consent form
If we accept your consent forms for registration, we'll send you an email confirming this.
When you're incorporating a new company, we'll send your Certificate of Incorporation once we've accepted and registered the last consent form.
We'll update the Companies Register by adding your signed consent forms to the company's documents history.
If we reject your consent form
If we reject a consent form, we'll send you an email advising why and ask you to resubmit the form. We may also ask you to provide additional identification.
A consent may be rejected if:
- the image quality is poor
- the details on the form don't match those supplied in your application on the Companies Register.
If the details don't match you must correct either:
- the details you've entered on the Companies Register, or
- the form, which you can find in the 'My unfinished business - My applications' section of your online services account dashboard.
Correcting director or shareholder details
To correct the details of a director or shareholder you must have:
- a RealMe® login
- an online services account with the Companies Register
- confirmed authority to act on behalf of the company.
How to correct director or shareholder details
Log in to your online services account, enter a company name, company number or New Zealand Business Number, and follow these steps.
- Select the Update company details option, and the Complete Coy Application tab.
- Select either the Directors or Shareholders tab
- Enter the correct details for the director or shareholder.
- If you're correcting details for a director who is also a shareholder, ensure you select the Shareholder tab to check those details are correct, too.
- Select Submit.
- New consent forms are emailed to you, but can also be downloaded from the My unfinished business application on your online services account dashboard.
Other guides in
Starting a company
- Incorporating a company
- Reserving a name for a new company
- Company addresses
- Tax registration
- Registering the appointment of a director
- Registering a shareholder
- Ultimate holding companies
- Issuing shares in a company
- Incorporating with a company constitution
- How overseas companies set up as a NZ business