Guide

AUSTRAC enrolment: how to enrol and when

Who must enrol with AUSTRAC, the 28-day rule, enrolment versus registration, what you need, how to enrol in AUSTRAC Online and how to keep it current.

By Matt Collis·Updated 2 November 2026·Reviewed 2 November 2026·8 min read

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) enrolment is the first legal step for any business that provides a designated service under Australia's AML/CTF Act. You must apply to enrol no later than 28 days after the day you start providing one, in AUSTRAC Online. People often search for AUSTRAC registration or the AUSTRAC register, but for most businesses the word is enrolment: registration, on a separate register, applies only to remittance and virtual asset service providers, and they must enrol as well.

This page is for accountants, lawyers, conveyancers, real estate agents, trust and company service providers and dealers in precious stones and metals, regulated by AUSTRAC since 1 July 2026 under Tranche 2. It covers who must enrol and when, what you need, how to do it, and how to keep your details up to date.

Who must enrol, and when

The enrolment clocks

  • Apply to enrolfrom the day you first provide a designated service (s 51B)
    28 days
  • Saved draft of the enrolment formdeleted after this
    14 days
  • Tell AUSTRAC about a change to your detailsfrom the day the change arises (s 51F)
    14 days
  • Notify a compliance officer appointmentfrom the day of the appointment
    14 days

Missing the 28 days does not end the obligation: each day without applying is a separate contravention.

Sources: AUSTRAC, Enrol with us overview; AUSTRAC, Update your details; AUSTRAC, New enrolment form questions; Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (ss 51B, 51F) Reviewed

You have 28 days from your first designated service to apply, and 14 days to tell AUSTRAC about any change after that.

AUSTRAC's enrolment overview is direct: "If you provide a designated service with a geographical link to Australia you must enrol." Section 51B of the AML/CTF Act sets the deadline. A business that starts to provide a designated service and isn't on the Reporting Entities Roll must apply to enrol no later than 28 days after the day it starts.

It is your services, not your profession, that decide this. An accountant who only prepares tax returns may provide no designated service at all, while one who helps set up a company or trust does. Our guide to designated services for accountants works through the list.

For the businesses brought in on 1 July 2026, AUSTRAC said they "must enrol with us by 29 July 2026", 28 days after the obligations began. Enrolment opened on 31 March 2026; that was the day the forms went live, not a deadline. A business that starts providing a designated service later has 28 days from its own start date. As of 20 October 2026, 62,710 businesses were enrolled with AUSTRAC.

The obligation doesn't lapse if you miss the 28 days. Section 51B says it continues until you apply, and each day you fail to apply is a separate contravention.

Enrolment or registration?

Enrolment and registration compared

At a glanceEnrolmentRegistration
WhoEvery business that provides a designated service, including accountants, lawyers, conveyancers and real estate agentsRemittance and virtual asset service providers, in addition to enrolling
What it puts you onThe Reporting Entities RollThe Remittance Sector Register or the virtual asset service provider register
TimingApply within 28 days of startingApproval before you start those services; assessment can take up to 90 days
How long it lastsUntil you are removed from the Roll3 years, then renew
Public searchNone that we foundYes, both registers

Sources: AUSTRAC, Enrol with us overview; AUSTRAC, Register with us as a remittance or virtual asset service provider; AUSTRAC, Remittance registration actions and register search Reviewed

Every business that provides a designated service enrols. Only remitters and virtual asset service providers register as well.

Enrolment puts you on the Reporting Entities Roll, AUSTRAC's list of the businesses it regulates. Registration is an extra step for two kinds of business. AUSTRAC's registration page says it "typically only applies to money remitters and people providing specialised virtual asset services". If you send or receive money or virtual assets only incidentally to your other services, you generally don't need to register. AUSTRAC names lawyers, accountants, real estate agents and property developers, conveyancers and dealers in precious metals and stones as businesses that generally don't.

A remittance or virtual asset service provider must enrol and register, and can't start providing those services until AUSTRAC approves the registration. AUSTRAC says assessment can take up to 90 days, and a registration lasts 3 years. Since the 2024 reforms, AUSTRAC calls digital currency exchange providers virtual asset service providers, and registration covers services such as exchanging one virtual asset for another and keeping virtual assets safe for others.

There are two public registers you can search. The Remittance Sector Register can be searched by legal or trading name, or by Australian Company Number (ACN), ABN or ARBN. The virtual asset service provider register became public in June 2026. We found no public search of the Reporting Entities Roll, so you can't look up whether another accounting or law firm is enrolled.

What you need before you start

AUSTRAC's enrolment form questions list what the form asks for. Gather these first:

  • Your designated services, and the date you started, or expect to start, providing them.
  • Business identifiers: legal, registered and trading names, your ABN, and any ACN, ARBN or ARSN.
  • Your structure and the people in it: for a company, each director's full and former names, date of birth and director ID, and any ultimate holding company. For a trust, the trustees; for a partnership, the partners with primary responsibility.
  • Beneficial owners: the full name and date of birth of each person who owns or controls the business. Our page on what a beneficial owner is explains the test.
  • Contact details: your principal place of business in Australia, registered office, phone, email and the website domains you provide services through.
  • Your operations: staff numbers, approximate annual turnover and whether you are a small business entity, chosen from bands on the form.
  • Your anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) compliance officer: name, position, date of birth and contact details. If you haven't appointed one yet, you give a primary contact instead. The compliance officer requirements cover who can do the role.
  • Earnings for the industry levy: whether your total earnings were A$100 million or more.

If your business is part of a reporting group, you also give each member's or the lead entity's AUSTRAC Account Number, which can be added later. AUSTRAC lists no enrolment fee. The separate industry contribution levy is usually paid only by medium to large businesses.

How to enrol in AUSTRAC Online

You enrol online, through AUSTRAC Online. AUSTRAC's step-by-step guide and sign-up guide set out the steps.

  1. Create a user account. Choose to sign up to enrol a new business, enter your email address and verify it from the link AUSTRAC sends, accept the privacy notice, add your details and set a password.
  2. Set up multi-factor authentication. It is required every time you log in. AUSTRAC's MFA guide says you enter a code from an authenticator app, such as Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator, or one sent by email. The email can't be a shared address. Keep the 10 recovery codes you are given. Help with signing in is in our guide to AUSTRAC Online login.
  3. Complete the enrol a new business form. In the menu, choose Business, then Enrol New Business. You can save your progress and come back for up to 14 days; drafts are deleted after that.
  4. Submit. You get a confirmation message and an email with your receipt number and AUSTRAC Account Number. AUSTRAC may ask for more information.
  5. Wait for confirmation. AUSTRAC sends a second email when you are enrolled.

Whoever enrols a business becomes an administrator for it in AUSTRAC Online, and can add other users. A separate business with a different ABN is enrolled separately, from the same account.

Keeping your enrolment up to date

Section 51F of the Act says you must tell AUSTRAC about a change to your enrolment details within 14 days of the change. You do it in AUSTRAC Online, under Business, Business profile, Update enrolment details, as AUSTRAC's update your details page explains. That includes a new compliance officer: AUSTRAC says you appoint one within 28 days of starting designated services and notify it within 14 days of the appointment.

There is no annual re-enrolment. AUSTRAC does ask you to update your annual earnings within 14 days of finalising your annual financial reports, when your declared earnings change.

If you stop providing designated services, or enrolled by mistake, you can ask to be removed from the Roll under section 51G. Until you are removed, AUSTRAC says you continue to have obligations, including the annual compliance report.

What happens if you don't enrol

Failing to enrol, and failing to update your details, are both civil penalty provisions, and AUSTRAC can issue an infringement notice for either. On 30 September 2026 AUSTRAC began issuing infringement notices to real estate, accounting and jewellery businesses it believes failed to enrol within 28 days: A$21,840 for a company and A$4,368 for an individual, amounts it says can accrue daily. Our guide to AUSTRAC's infringement notices to unenrolled businesses covers what to do if you receive one.

A court can order a civil penalty of up to 100,000 penalty units for a company and 20,000 for an individual for each contravention, which is A$36.4 million and A$7.28 million at A$364 a unit. The full picture is in our guide to AML non-compliance penalties. For remitters and virtual asset service providers, providing those services without registration is also a criminal offence.

Key point

Under Australia's AML/CTF Act, a business must apply to enrol with AUSTRAC no later than 28 days after it starts providing a designated service, and must tell AUSTRAC of any change to its enrolment details within 14 days.

What StackGo does here

StackGo doesn't enrol you with AUSTRAC, and enrolment can't be done by software for you. It is a form you complete yourself, in AUSTRAC Online. What comes after is where StackGo's IdentityCheck helps: once your AML/CTF program says how you check clients, it runs those checks from your practice software. It verifies each person's identity, screens every party against politically exposed person (PEP), sanctions and adverse media sources, records your risk rating and decision, and re-screens monitored clients every month. See the Verify workflow for how a check runs.

Frequently asked questions

Is AUSTRAC registration the same as enrolment?

No. Every business that provides a designated service enrols. Only remittance and virtual asset service providers also register, on a separate register. Accountants, lawyers, conveyancers and real estate agents generally enrol only.

How long do we have to enrol with AUSTRAC?

You must apply no later than 28 days after the day you start providing a designated service. For businesses regulated from 1 July 2026, AUSTRAC said that was 29 July 2026.

Can we check whether another business is enrolled?

Not for the Reporting Entities Roll: we found no public search of it. You can search the Remittance Sector Register and the virtual asset service provider register.

Does enrolling mean we are compliant?

No. Enrolment is the first step. You also need an AML/CTF program, a compliance officer, customer due diligence, reporting and record keeping. The AML/CTF Rules set out the detail.

Sources

Checked on 2 November 2026.

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