Workflow checklist
- Identify the registry. businessregistries.gov.to
- Check access requirements. Account required: Optional. Local ID required: No.
- Plan budget. Price range: USD 0.00. Payment methods: Not published on the search pages; confirm at source.
- Anticipate friction. Captcha / 2FA: Captcha. English UI: Yes.
- Plan turnaround. Expected: Unknown.
- Verify recency. Last verified: 4 Sept 2026. Confirm current pricing at the official registry before submitting.
TL;DR. Tonga’s companies portal is https://businessregistries.gov.to, the Kingdom of Tonga Registry Service. It offers Create Account, Log In, Business Entity Search, Name Availability Search, and Name Reservation Search, with a captcha on the search pages. https://mct.gov.to no longer resolves. Extract figures of TOP 20 to 50 appear in older accounts and are not published now. Prescribed-fee PDFs are linked from Forms/Fees for Download; they are scanned images, so their amounts are not reproduced here and fees read unknown rather than free; confirm at source.
What is the official Tonga business registry?
The public host is https://businessregistries.gov.to, the Kingdom of Tonga Registry Service. Its navigation names MCCTIL Offices, without expanding the acronym. The Companies Act 1995 remains the statutory frame.
https://mct.gov.to and https://www.mct.gov.to no longer resolve. Older accounts that named mct.gov.to as the search site are out of date.
The Tongan pa’anga (TOP) is the currency. The fee PDFs are titled as prescribed fees, and no USD conversion is published.
What can you search?
Search pages:
- https://businessregistries.gov.to/corp/search.aspx Business Entity Search
- https://businessregistries.gov.to/corp/namesearch.aspx Name Availability Search
- https://businessregistries.gov.to/namereservations/search.aspx Name Reservation Search (linked from nav)
Result rows are not reproduced here, so director and shareholder fields are not confirmed. A hidden zero-value fee field on the name search page is not a published tariff.
PPSA Search is linked at /str/search.aspx. That is securities, not the companies register.
No beneficial ownership fields appear on the search pages.
How much does it cost?
| Item | Cost (TOP) | Cost (USD, approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Name availability / entity search | Unknown | Unknown |
| Certified company extract | Unknown | Unknown |
| Company registration | Unknown | Unknown |
Figures of TOP 20-50, TOP 100-300 and TOP 200-500 appear in older accounts and are not published on the search pages; confirm at source. Fee PDFs from Forms/Fees for Download:
- Prescribed fees for Companies 2026.02.02.pdf
- Prescribed fees for Business Names 2026.02.02.pdf
- Prescribed fees for Business Licences 2026.02.02.pdf
Those PDFs are scanned images, so their amounts are not reproduced here and the table above reads unknown rather than free. The figures are in the PDFs; confirm at source.
Do you need a local account or ID?
Optional. The site has Create Account (/public/setupaccount.aspx) and Log In (/public/login.aspx) alongside the search pages. No Tongan ID is required for the search. How much entity detail sits behind the login is not confirmed here.
Is the website in English?
Yes. The portal is in English. Tongan is also an official language, but the search pages are in English.
What’s the turnaround time?
Unknown. Certified-extract timing is not published on the search pages.
Is there an API?
No public API is published.
What you legally cannot do
Redistribution of certified extracts without authorisation is not permitted. Document the purpose of each search. The full terms are not published as a standalone legal page.
Practical tips for foreign compliance buyers
- businessregistries.gov.to is the working address. mct.gov.to no longer resolves.
- Captcha. The search pages carry a captcha.
- Fee PDFs exist. The 2026.02.02 prescribed-fee PDFs carry the amounts.
- No public beneficial ownership data. None appears on the search pages.
- FATF. The FATF country page for Tonga is online. It does not give grey-list placement or removal dates here; confirm at source.
Alternatives if you cannot access the Tonga registry directly
- PacLII (https://www.paclii.org) for the Companies Act 1995.
- OpenCorporates: limited.
- Direct disclosure from the counterparty when the portal is down.
Local data suppliers
No retail credit bureau for Tonga company data is confirmed. Nuku’alofa counsel remains the practical path for certified copies.
FAQ
Can a foreign company verify a Tonga business remotely?
The portal is online with search pages and account links. How much detail is public rather than login-gated is not confirmed here.
What entity types are registered in Tonga?
Companies Act 1995 domestic and overseas companies. Entity-type filters are not listed on the search pages.
Does Tonga have a beneficial ownership registry?
No public beneficial ownership search appears on the site.
Is Tonga on the FATF grey list?
The FATF country page for Tonga is online. It does not give grey-list placement or removal dates here; confirm at source.
What currency does Tonga use?
Tongan pa’anga (TOP). No conversion is published on the search pages.
Last verified: 2026-09-04. Sources: the businessregistries.gov.to search pages and the prescribed-fee PDF links. mct.gov.to no longer resolves. TOP extract figures are not published on the search pages. The FATF Tonga country page is online. For the full global due diligence framework, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide.