What is PTY LTD?

Question

how do you become a PTY LTD

Answer 1

It stands for "Proprietary Limited"

"Limited" basically means the company has limited liability (that is, if the company goes broke, the shareholders (owners) don't lose their house, car, yacht etc)

"Proprietary" means that the shares in the company are privately held.  They're not traded on the Stock exchange and you and I can't buy shares in the company. (Unless you marry the boss's daughter, you might get some that way <grin>)

Smaller, family owned businesses often start out as Sole Traders or Partnerships. Nice and simple and inexpensive to setup, but if the business goes down the gurgler the creditors can and do go after the owners in court. Many a family has lost the lot this way, and you only have to look at the public notices in the daily newspapers to see today's list.

Becoming Pty Ltd involves a mountain of paperwork and a whole bunch of fees, but as I said before, saves you from being taken to the cleaners if the business fails. Think one.tel/FAI/Froggy.com. The shareholders lost all or most of their $$$ but the owners/bosses kept most of their personal goodies. Much to the disgust of many!

Visit your accountant, he will have all the paperwork and know all the fees.

NB: And once you become REALLY successful and start selling shares via the Stock Exchange, you drop the PTY and just become MyCompany Ltd.

Answer 2

You have to become a company. Contact your local fair trading office for more info.