Can minors start an online store in Australia?

[naved1a1]

Hi, I am 16 years old and live in Australia. I want to start a Shopify store but I am under age, I know that I can use my parents information to start the store but I don't want it affecting their taxes. Would there be any other way for me to start the store like registering for a partnership ABN and having one of my parents in it?  Thanks.

[Don]

Hi there @naved1a1!

Thanks for sharing your query with us here in the Community and it's great to hear you're interested in getting started so young.

I'd like to share some info with you in terms of what we can and cannot support from here in Shopify.

The first is that the Account Owner of the store would need to be a named individual of at least 18 years of age (or the age of majority where you are).

This would usually mean that minors would need to open their store in their parent or guardian's name (and with their express permission) in order to fulfill this requirement.

There's some more info on this here in the Account Activation section of our Terms of Service you can check out.

With regard to how this would affect your parents' tax liabilities, this is not something we would be able to answer from here in Shopify.

For questions regarding tax liability, we would always have to direct you to consult a qualified expert in your jurisdiction to ensure you're compliant with any local tax laws or ordinances.

Could you tell me a bit about what sort of business you're interested in starting up?

For Shopify stores based in Australia, these are the payment gateways that are available for use there. 

Feel free to tell me as much as you can about what you're selling and who you wish to sell to so we can get you pointed in the right direction for more info!

[naved1a1]

Thanks Don, I'm interested I starting up a print on demand business. I do have more questions about Shopify as well.

1)  How much stores will I be able to open with the Shopify basic plan?

2) If I sign up for the yearly plan which is $26 does that mean that I can only use Shopify for 1 year?

3) When someone buys something off my Shopify store will the profit go straight to my PayPal or would I get paid weekly?

4) Is there a type of service Shopify provides that help us with taxes?

5) Is there a place where all sellers can talk to each other and help each other out when needed?For example some companies have a discord server that allows the sellers to communicate with each other live. 

Sorry, I know I have lots of questions to ask but your help would mean a lot to me. 

Thank you!

[Don]

Hi again, @naved1a1!

Generally speaking, it would be one Shopify store per account; is there a specific need you're looking to address we can check out with you?

You can check out our latest, up-to-date pricing here on our pricing page. 

For annual plans, the price shown would be the monthly equivalent, which would be billed once a year.

That is to say, the amount you see mentioned for the annual plan is likely the equivalent monthly cost, not the total annual price.

How you would be paid for a given order would depend on how that order is made.

Specific payment gateways will have different payout periods and processes, so I would check with the provider you choose to use to process payments for confirmation. 

In terms of taxes, once you know what your liabilities are in terms of taxation you can edit your Shopify tax settings to reflect this.

The best place I can think of in terms of a community for Shopify merchants would be right here!

Feel free to post your queries here in any relevant forum threads, or just join in the Shopify Discussion to ask whatever you need to know.

[Lukaale]

Hi, I have same questions about starting dropshipping as a minor what you had. Can you message with me?