Business name or company?
Decide this before you register. Changing later means registering afresh.
A business name suits a sole trader or a small partnership testing an idea. If you expect to take
on contracts of any size, employ staff, or raise money, a company is usually the right choice.
If you are not sure, the deciding question is usually liability. If something going wrong in the
business could cost more than you can personally afford, register a company.
Before you start
1
Clear your name
Required first, exactly as for a company. See
Name clearance — choose business name as the business
type.
2
Decide who the proprietors are
A sole proprietor, or the partners in a partnership. Everyone named will be personally liable.
3
Gather identification
NRC for Zambian nationals, passport for foreign nationals, for every proprietor.
4
Confirm your business address
A physical address in Zambia where correspondence can be received.
What you will be asked for
Documents you will need
The process
1
Start the request
PACRA workspace → Service requests → business name registration.
2
Complete the intake
Business details and proprietors. Bumara validates identification formats as you type.
3
Work through the checklist
Confirm the proprietors, upload identification, confirm the business address.
4
Pay the fee
The PACRA fee plus Bumara’s handling fee.
5
Request submission
Bumara lodges it with PACRA.
6
Receive your certificate
Filed in your document vault, with your registration number recorded against your organisation.
After registration
1
Apply for your TPIN
You still need one — a business name pays tax through its proprietor, but you need a TPIN to
invoice and file. See ZRA overview.
2
Register as an employer if you have staff
Employing anyone triggers PAYE, NAPSA and NHIMA obligations regardless of your entity type.
3
Open a business bank account
You will need the registration certificate and your identification.
4
Check your renewal date
Business names are registered for a period and must be renewed. Bumara tracks this and reminds
you.
Ongoing obligations
A business name has a lighter compliance load than a company:Converting to a company later
You cannot convert a business name into a company. You register the company as a new entity — which means clearing the name again, since it will be registered to a different kind of entity — and then wind down or deregister the business name. Plan for this if you expect to grow. It is far less disruptive to register a company at the start than to migrate contracts, bank accounts and a customer base to a new entity two years later.Related: Company registration.