Nauru

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Overview

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Identifiers

Collect two identifiers from each business customer in Nauru and submit them as strings on the application body. Tax ID: Nine-digit number issued by the NRO via the Nauru TIN Registration Database (NTRDB) under the Revenue Administration Act 2014. Mandatory for all resident legal entities with a tax liability; also required before a sole trader may register a business name. The NRO issues a TIN Certificate upon registration. Nauru imposes Business Profits Tax (BPT), Small Business Tax (SBT), and Non-Resident Tax (NRT) under the Business Tax Act 2016; there is no VAT/GST regime. The NRO TIN is the single fiscal identifier across all business tax obligations, including NRT (20% withholding on non-residents’ Nauru-source interest, royalties, and insurance premiums) and the Telecommunications Service Tax (15% of gross revenue, applicable to telecom service providers under the Telecommunications Service Tax Act 2009). Registration number: Assigned at incorporation under the Corporations Act 1972 and its subsidiary Corporations (Forms and Fees) Regulations 2018; appears on the Certificate of Incorporation. Partnerships and trusts receive a separate registration number from the Registrar of Partnerships / Registrar of Trusts respectively.

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Sector regulators

Nauru FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit — Department of Justice & Border Control) · Registrar of Banks (Secretary for Finance / Minister for Finance) · Nauru Revenue Office (NRO — Department of Finance)

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Legal structures

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How documents combine

For each evidence area, this table shows whether the listed documents are alternatives (any one of) or a bundle (all required). The artifact-by-artifact lookup follows below.

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Documents to collect

The physical documents you’ll collect from your customer, with the evidence area each one proves. One document can prove multiple areas — for example, Brazil’s Cartão CNPJ covers both tax and business-registration proof, so it appears once with both areas listed.

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Collection notes

• Legal Registration: Issued by the Registrar of Corporations under the Corporations Act 1972 and Corporations (Forms and Fees) Regulations 2018. Includes the company name, corporation registration number, date of incorporation, and the seal/signature of the Registrar of Corporations. Partnerships receive a Certificate of Registration from the Registrar of Partnerships under the Partnership Act 2018. Trusts receive a Certificate of Registration from the Registrar of Trusts under the Trusts Act 2018. Processing time is typically 7–14 business days for corporations. No public online registry — documents are obtained directly from the Department of Justice & Border Control in Yaren. Information about directors and shareholders of offshore/international corporations is not on the public record; local companies’ managing directors and principal shareholders are publicly available.
• Constitutive Documents: Filed with the Registrar of Corporations at the time of incorporation under the Corporations Act 1972. The Memorandum of Association sets out the legal parameters of operations and identifies the nature of business; the Articles of Association govern internal operations and shareholder arrangements. For partnerships, the Partnership Agreement is the equivalent constitutive document filed with the Registrar of Partnerships under the Partnership Act 2018.
• Tax Registration: Issued by the Nauru Revenue Office (NRO) Taxation Department via the Nauru TIN Registration Database (NTRDB) under the Revenue Administration Act 2014. The TIN Certificate confirms registration for Business Profits Tax (BPT), Small Business Tax (SBT), and/or Non-Resident Tax (NRT) under the Business Tax Act 2016. A TIN must be obtained before registering a business name or opening a bank account. Registration is done in person at the NRO office in Yaren; no online portal is available. There is no VAT/GST in Nauru; BPT, SBT, and NRT are the primary business taxes administered under the NRO TIN.
• Operating Permit: Mandatory for every person (natural or legal) carrying on business in the Republic of Nauru under the Business Licences Act 2017. Issued by the Registrar of Business Licences (Secretary for Justice and Border Control). Annual renewal required (expires 12 months from issue); renewal fee is AUD $300 per business nature. Late renewal fee AUD$100–$200. Must be displayed on the business premises. Operating without a valid licence is a criminal offence (fine up to AUD$10,000 or up to 12 months imprisonment). Initial application fee: AUD $300; additional AUD$300 per extra business nature or district.
• Sector-Specific License: Sector-specific: banks must be licensed under the Banking Act 1975 by the Registrar of Banks (Secretary for Finance / Minister for Finance). The AML-TFS Act 2023 designates a wide range of financial institutions as reporting entities; entities providing money or value transfer, virtual asset services, foreign exchange, lending, or payment instruments require a Business Licence plus compliance with AML-TFS Act 2023 Part 4. There is no securities regulator (IOSC membership not held) and no insurance supervisor (IAIS membership not held) as of 2026 — no insurance companies or securities dealers operate in Nauru. Virtual asset service providers are governed under AML-TFS Act 2023 s5(n). The Nauru FIU (within Department of Justice & Border Control) is the AML/CFT supervisory authority for all reporting entities.
• Governance Records: Companies maintain an internal Register of Directors; directors are filed with the Registrar of Corporations as part of the Annual Return (Corporations Act 1972 s.133). For local companies, the managing director and principal shareholder details are publicly available in registry extracts. For offshore/international corporations, director information is not on the public record. Foreign companies registering in Nauru must provide particulars of their directors including full name, address, nationality, and date of birth.
• Signing Authority: Board resolution signed by the directors of the corporation authorising a named signatory to act on behalf of the company; no statutory form prescribed — company letterhead resolution is standard. Power of attorney is an alternative for non-corporate signatories or complex structures. Nauru did NOT ratify the Hague Apostille Convention; documents intended for cross-border use require full consular legalisation (not apostille).
• Address: Conduit universal policy: lease (no time bound) OR utility bill OR bank statement, with utility/bank dated within 90 days. Same evidence satisfies both registered-address and operating-address checks. Nauru’s residential and commercial address system is district-based (14 districts on the single island); street addresses are not standardised — accept any official government or utility correspondence showing the entity name and district/location.
• Good Standing: Issued by the Registrar of Corporations for corporations incorporated under the Corporations Act 1972; confirms the company’s active registration status and compliance with filing and fee obligations. Available for both local and offshore corporations. Obtainable directly from the Department of Justice & Border Control, Yaren; no online request portal. Documents for cross-border use require full consular legalisation — Nauru has NOT ratified the Hague Apostille Convention. Request a certificate dated within 30 days for banking purposes.

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Person roles

When you submit a person on the application body, set their role to one of Conduit’s canonical BusinessPersonRole values. Use this table to map a local corporate-governance title onto the right canonical role.

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Notes

• Nauru has NOT ratified the Hague Apostille Convention (as of 2026-06-10). Documents intended for use outside Nauru require full consular legalisation, not apostille certification. This adds cost and time to cross-border document workflows.
• As of August 2025, the sole commercial bank operating in Nauru is Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), which replaced Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (the previous sole provider, which exited August 2025 after ~10 years). CBA is regulated by APRA (Australia). There are no indigenous commercial banks. Bank statements issued in Nauru will carry Commonwealth Bank / CommBank branding.
• Nauru’s address system is district-based across 14 districts on the single coral island; standardised street addresses do not exist. Accept any official correspondence (utility bill, bank statement, government notice) showing entity name and district for proof-of-address purposes.
• The Anti-Money Laundering and Targeted Financial Sanctions Act 2023 (AML-TFS Act 2023) replaced the AML Act 2008 and significantly expanded the definition of financial institution to include virtual asset service providers and a wide range of payment services. All such reporting entities are supervised by the Nauru FIU.
• The Nauru Revenue Office is located in Yaren; TIN registration is done in person only — no online portal is available (as of 2026-06-10). Allow additional lead time for TIN registration when onboarding Nauru entities.
• Corporations Act 1972 does not distinguish formally between ‘public’ and ‘private’ companies in the way most Commonwealth jurisdictions do. All share-capital domestic companies are incorporated under one regime; the Memorandum & Articles of Association govern transferability restrictions.