Virtual Office Space · Box 05
Redirecting and holding business mail
Australia Post’s business mail redirection sends a moving business’s letters and parcels on from the address it is leaving to the one it is moving to, for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months. Business mail hold keeps them at Australia Post for anywhere from a week to 12 months, then delivers them. As at October 2026, a month of redirection within Australia costs $162, and mail hold has a flat monthly fee of $158.
Redirection prices
| Length of service, at most | Within Australia | Overseas |
|---|---|---|
| 1 month | $162 | $324 |
| 3 months | $405 | $810 |
| 6 months | $810 | $1,620 |
| 12 months | $1,620 | $3,240 |
As at October 2026, from Australia Post’s business mail redirection page.
How the two services differ
Mail follows the business
- Meant for a business that is moving: mail sent to the old location goes on to the new one.
- Runs for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months.
- Covers as many as 6 names: business names, the applicant, name variations, and colleagues who receive mail there.
- Approval takes 3 to 6 business days. Australia Post emails when you apply and again on approval, and sends a tax invoice.
- Only companies can apply online.
Mail waits for the business
- Meant for a business that is closing for a while or going away: mail is kept and delivered when it is back.
- Any period from 1 week up to 12 months.
- The same limit of 6 names.
- Allow 3 business days for the application. Held mail arrives the business day after the service ends, or as soon as possible after that.
- Applications are made at a Post Office. The fee is $158 a month, or $79 for an eligible home office.
The home office rate is for someone who runs a business, trust or self-managed super fund from home, who may be eligible for a reduced fee on business mail hold. Australia Post says the same group may be eligible for a reduced fee on business mail redirection.
What to bring
What Australia Post asks for depends on who is applying. Summarised in our words, in the order its redirection page gives them:
- A company: online, uploading its Certificate of Registration of a Company as a JPG; or in person with the certificate, stamping the company seal beside the signature if it has a seal.
- A partnership or sole trader: in person, with the form and ID. Sole traders who hold a Certificate of Registration of a Company bring that too.
- A not-for-profit, club or association: the form, ID, and certified annual general meeting minutes recording who the office holders are.
- A government body: the application, ID, and a certified copy of its authorisation, signed by someone duly authorised.
- Proof of identity: photo ID such as a driver licence or passport (student and credit cards don’t count), or else two documents, one with your name and Australian home address and one with your signature.
- A letter of authorisation on official letterhead, from anyone who isn’t an authorised person themselves, such as a director, company secretary, managing partner, trustee or office holder.
Every name on the form has to appear in exactly the same form in the letter of authorisation, including each version of the business name and of each person’s name. Mail hold asks a business, sole trader or partnership for one more document: its Business Registration Certificate, original or certified.
Mail that won’t go overseas
Overseas redirection is arranged only at a Post Office. Registered Post, Cash on Delivery, Parcel Post, Express Post and anything needing customs paperwork can’t be sent on overseas, and mail can’t be redirected the other way, from an overseas address to one in Australia.
Changing or ending a service
Changes and cancellations go through Australia Post’s Alter or Cancel form, filled in on both pages and taken to a Post Office with the original application, its receipt and ID. It asks for the 9-digit customer reference number, found on the original receipt or confirmation. The same form is used to ask for a refund after cancelling.
An address that doesn’t move
Redirection follows a move. A PO Box is the other approach: among the benefits Australia Post gives are one address that stays the same through a move and a business address kept private, and it holds parcels and letters for up to 30 days. A business applies in person at a Post Office, with proof of identity, an ABN and proof of authority to act for the business. As at October 2026, a small box costs $192 a year at the standard business price, or $302 at specified CBD and high-demand locations. A new lease pays a $27 establishment fee plus a pro rata share of the year to 31 March, and one that starts in February or March also pays for the following full year.
A PO Box has limits elsewhere, though: it can’t be a company’s registered office or principal place of business, or a business name’s principal place of business. Which addresses another place can stand in for.
