ABN Lookup (ABR)

Business names suggest as you type, from the Australian Business Register - name and ABN together.

ABN Lookup connects TowConnect to the Australian Business Register (ABR) - the government's official register of businesses. Start typing a business name and matching businesses appear underneath it; pick one and its registered name and ABN both fill in. Every ABN is also checksum-validated as you type, whether it came from the register or was entered by hand.

How to use it

1. Type at least three letters of the business name.
2. Wait a beat - suggestions appear under the box, each showing the registered name, the ABN and the state.
3. Pick one with the mouse, or with ↑ ↓ and Enter. Esc closes the list.

Picking fills the name and the ABN together. It never overwrites an ABN you have already typed - if you are recording a number the register has not caught up with, yours is kept.

Where it works

Everywhere a business name is typed:

• Signing up - your own company name. Pick your business and its ABN comes with it, shown as one line you can remove. Sign-up has no ABN box: if you do not pick, the welcome wizard, the Add your ABN step on your Getting Started checklist and Settings ask for it.
• Accounts → New / Edit - under "Company / Account Name".
• New Job → Create new client → B2B - the client's company name, without leaving the job.
• Settings → General - your own business, beside your ABN.

The welcome wizard (step 2) has the ABN box on its own - it already knows your company name from signup - and it comes pre-filled if you picked your business there.

In Settings and the welcome wizard, a saved ABN is also read back off the register and its state shown in one line: whether it is active or cancelled, and whether the business is registered for GST. It is there to tell you something, never to stop you saving. A number that fails the ABN's own check digits is different: in Australia it is refused, with the reason beside the box, because it would print on every invoice.

How it's enabled

Privacy & behaviour

• Only the business name you type is sent to the ABR - never your account or job data.
• Nothing is sent on every keystroke: the search waits until you pause, and a name it has already looked up this visit is not asked again.
• Results come straight from the ABR, so names and ABNs reflect the official register. Nothing from the register is stored - the results live in the page you are on and go when you leave it.