# 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

> ABN Lookup only appears when your workspace's country is Australia - the ABR is an Australian register.

## 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.