The layman's guide to AML/CTF Rules 2025: Part 3 - Enrolment

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Enrolment with AUSTRAC under Australia’s AML/CTF Rules 2025

If your business provides a designated service under Australia’s AML/CTF laws, you must enrol with AUSTRAC before you can legally operate. Enrolment means supplying AUSTRAC with:

• Service details: What you offer, when/where it’s provided, and your industry.
• Business details: Legal names, numbers (ABN/ACN), ownership, size, contacts, and turnover.
• Extra info: Directors, trustees, or partners depending on your structure.
• Group membership: Whether you’re part of a reporting group and who the lead is.
• Financials: Annual earnings (unless under $100m).
• Compliance contact: The person completing the form must certify the information is true.

You must also keep AUSTRAC updated if services, ownership, or key details change, and confirm earnings each year.

What is enrolment?

If you provide certain services (called designated services), you must register with AUSTRAC as a reporting entity. Enrolment is the process of giving AUSTRAC information about your business so you can legally provide those services.

What information do you need to give?

Details about your services

For each designated service (schedule 3 and 6) you already provide, or plan to provide, you’ll need to say:

• what the service is
• when you started, or when you plan to start
• where you provide it - in Australia or overseas (and if overseas, whether you’re an Australian resident or a subsidiary of an Australian company)
• which industry the service belongs to

If you provide money transfer or virtual asset services 

You’ll also need to confirm your registration status, such as whether you’re:

• a registered remittance network provider
• a registered independent dealer or affiliate
• a registered virtual asset service provider

If you run gambling services

You’ll need to confirm whether the special small-operator exemption (15 or fewer gaming machines) applies to you.

If all your services are only about arranging for others to provide financial services (item 54 in the Act), you’ll need to say that too.

Details about your business

You’ll also need to give AUSTRAC basic details about your organisation, including:

• full legal name and any trading names
• business numbers (ABN, ACN, ARBN, ARSN)
• Legal Entity Identifier (if you have one)
• registered office and main business address
• business type (company, partnership, trust, etc.)
• names of the beneficial owners (the people who ultimately own or control it)
• number of employees
• whether you were classed as a small business last year
• industry or professional associations you belong to
• phone and email contacts
• a contact person for AUSTRAC levies (name, job title, email)
• website addresses
• what your business does
• your annual turnover for the last financial year

Extra details for certain types of organisations

• Companies: names and dates of birth of directors, director IDs, where you’re incorporated or registered, and overseas business addresses. If you have a parent company, you’ll need its name, address, country of residence and identifier.
• Government bodies: whether you’re Australian or overseas, and if overseas, which country established you.
• Partnerships: details of individual partners who make key decisions (names, addresses, DOBs, government IDs) or, if partners are companies, trusts or associations, their equivalent details.
• Trusts: type of trust, former names, and details of all trustees (individual or corporate).
• Associations or co-operatives: details of the main decision-makers (names, addresses, DOBs, government IDs).

If you’re part of a reporting group

You must say if you’re part of a reporting group and whether you’re the lead entity.

• If you’re the lead, give details about all other reporting entity members.
• If you’re not the lead, give details about who is.

Your earnings

You’ll need to provide your business earnings for the past 12 months.

• For Australian-owned banks and financial entities: profit before tax, depreciation and amortisation.
• For foreign-owned banks and financial entities: profit from Australian operations only, before tax, depreciation and amortisation.
• For other Australian businesses: earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation.
• For other foreign-owned businesses: same as above, but only from Australian operations.

If you’re part of a corporate group, you must provide combined earnings for the group. You don’t need to provide this if your total earnings are under $100 million.

The person completing the form

Whoever fills out the enrolment application must include their:

• name
• job title
• role in relation to the business
• phone number
• email address

They must also declare that all the information provided is true and correct.

What happens if things change?

• If any details you gave AUSTRAC change - for example, your services, ownership, directors or contact details - you must notify AUSTRAC.
• Each year, you must also update your earnings information.

Correcting or removing enrolment

• AUSTRAC can correct mistakes in your enrolment record if it spots them.
• AUSTRAC can remove you if they reasonably believe you’ve stopped providing services or never started.
• You can ask to be removed if you stop providing services. You’ll need to confirm your name, when you stopped, whether you’ll start again next year, and whether you still owe any reports.