How to enrol with AUSTRAC (and what to have ready)

Who has to enrol

You must enrol if you provide a designated service. It is the service that counts, not your job title. For these sectors the services are listed in section 6 of the Act: Table 5 for real estate and Table 6 for professional services, such as conveyancing, holding client money for a transaction, or setting up companies and trusts.¹ The service must have a link to Australia, usually because you provide it through a permanent establishment here.²

If you are not sure, start with our free check or AUSTRAC's check if you may be regulated tool, then read is my business a reporting entity?. AUSTRAC links on this page open in a new window. AUSTRAC has not reviewed or endorsed this guide.

AUSTRAC says lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, conveyancers and dealers in precious metals and stones generally do not also need to register. Registration is an extra process that typically applies to money remitters and some virtual asset services.³

When the deadline falls

The 29 July 2026 date has passed. If it applied to you and you have not enrolled, see If you are late.

What to have ready

The Act says the application must be in the approved form and contain the information the Rules require.⁴ The Rules list that information in sections 3-2 to 3-5.⁵ Gather it before you open the form.

1. Your services

   A description of each kind of designated service, the date you started or propose to start it, whether you provide it through a permanent establishment in Australia, and information on your industry. Rules 3-2

2. Your business

   Full name and trading names; ABN, ACN, ARBN or ARSN as applicable; any legal entity identifier; registered office; principal place of business in Australia; legal form (such as partnership, company or trust); phone and email; a contact person for communications about AUSTRAC's industry contribution; website domain names; a description of your business; number of employees; industry associations; whether you were a small business entity for income tax purposes in the previous income year; and approximate annual turnover for the most recent financial year. A few further items rarely apply to a small practice. Rules 3-3

3. Your owners

   The names and dates of birth of your beneficial owners: the individuals who ultimately own 25% or more of the business, or who control it, directly or indirectly. Rules 3-3 s 5

4. Your structure

   A company gives each director's full and former names, date of birth and director identification number (if any), where it is incorporated, and any ultimate holding company. A partnership gives details of its partners. A trust gives the kind of trust and details of its trustees. Rules 3-3

5. Reporting group

   Whether you are a member, or the lead entity, of a reporting group. Rules 3-3

6. The person completing it

   Their full name, job title, role, phone and email, and their declaration that the information is true and correct. Rules 3-5

Rules 3-4 also asks for earnings figures, but only where earnings reach the threshold in rule 3-4(3), which is far above what a small practice earns.⁶ Give your real start date: the form asks for it and the person completing it declares the information is true and correct.

AUSTRAC publishes the full list of questions on its new enrolment form questions page.

Step by step in AUSTRAC Online

This is our summary of AUSTRAC's instructions on its Enrol with us overview page, which is guidance, not law.³

1. Check for an existing account

   If your business has provided a designated service for some time, it may already have an AUSTRAC Online account. Try to log in first. A business with a different ABN is added as a new business to your account. AUSTRAC

2. Create a user account

   Sign up for AUSTRAC Online and set up multi-factor authentication. AUSTRAC

3. Complete the enrol a new business form

   AUSTRAC says you can save your progress and return to the form for up to 14 days. AUSTRAC

4. Submit and keep the receipt

   You get a confirmation message and email with a receipt number and your AUSTRAC Account Number (AAN). AUSTRAC emails you when you are enrolled, and may ask for more information. AUSTRAC

5. File a copy

   Keep the submission, the receipt and the confirmation in your AML/CTF file, with the date.

© AUSTRAC for the Commonwealth of Australia 2026, CC BY 4.0; adapted by AMLCompliant; not endorsed by AUSTRAC.

What follows enrolment

Enrolment puts you on the Reporting Entities Roll.⁷ It does not meet your other obligations. These run alongside it.

1. Designate a compliance officer within 28 days

   Of starting to provide a designated service. They must be at management level, a resident of Australia and a fit and proper person. s 26K s 26J

2. Notify AUSTRAC within 14 days

   Of the designation, in the approved form. AUSTRAC says you do this through the enrolment form in AUSTRAC Online. s 26M AUSTRAC

3. Have your program in place before you act

   Your risk assessment and policies must be documented before your first designated service. A senior manager must approve them, and every update. s 26N Rules 5-15 s 26P

4. Keep your details current

   Tell AUSTRAC about a change to your Rules 3-2 or 3-3 information within 14 days. s 51F Rules 3-9

5. Lodge the annual compliance report

   The first covers 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 and is lodged between 1 July and 30 September 2027. s 47 Rules 9-9

If the 29 July 2026 enrolment rule applied to you, your first compliance-officer notice was due by the later of 29 July 2026 and 14 days after your name was entered on the Roll.⁸ After that, the ordinary 14-day rule applies each time you designate someone new.

Failing to advise a change in enrolment details is also an infringement notice provision.⁹ Your governing body must oversee how the firm identifies its risks and complies with its policies.¹⁰

If you are late

The obligation to enrol does not lapse when the deadline passes. It continues until you apply, and each day after the deadline counts as a separate contravention.¹¹

On 28 August 2026 AUSTRAC said it "has begun issuing section 167 notices to businesses that appear to be providing designated services but have not enrolled". It named real estate agents, accountants, lawyers and jewellers.¹³ A section 167 notice requires information or documents, and not complying can be an offence.¹⁴

AUSTRAC has said it will take a "pragmatic and proportionate approach" as businesses move to the new requirements, and that it expects "sustained effort and progress against your implementation plan".¹⁵ That is a statement of approach, not an exemption.

If you are late, apply as soon as you can and give your true start date. If you are unsure how to handle the late period, get legal advice.

If you enrolled by mistake

If you enrolled and then decided you do not provide a designated service, you can ask AUSTRAC in writing to remove you from the Roll. The request must be in the approved form and contain the information in Rules 3-8, such as whether you have stopped providing designated services and whether any reports are outstanding.¹⁶ AUSTRAC says that while you remain on the Roll, you keep your obligations, including the annual compliance report.³

Where we fit

We do not enrol you and we do not lodge anything with AUSTRAC for you. Enrolment is between you and AUSTRAC.

• Your sector: accounting practices, real estate agencies, conveyancers and legal practices.
• Your program: AUSTRAC publishes free program starter kits. Our kit is built on them.
• Set-up with us: the set-up service call includes a check of your enrolment and compliance-officer notice.
• Dates: every tranche 2 date is on our key dates page. Every source we use is on our sources page, and more guides are on the guides page.

Independent. Not affiliated with, or endorsed by, AUSTRAC or the Australian Government.