AUSTRAC registration for accountants applies to firms providing designated services under the AML/CTF Act. Enrolment is the first step; obligations including customer due diligence, reporting and record-keeping begin from the point the entity starts providing designated services.
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AUSTRAC Registration for Accountants and Lawyers:
The 2026 Guide
AUSTRAC registration for accountants and lawyers is the visible first step of a much longer obligation. Enrolment itself is administrative. What follows, from the day you begin providing designated services, is customer due diligence, monitoring, reporting and record-keeping. Firms that treat enrolment as the finish line are the ones caught out. Confirm current dates and requirements against AUSTRAC guidance.
This guide explains who needs to register, what the registration process involves, and what reporting entities must have in place from registration onwards.
Key Takeaways
AUSTRAC Registration for Accountants:
Who Is Captured
Registration is required for any person or entity that provides a designated service. For the professional services sector, the key designated services are:
- Accounting firms: preparation of financial statements, bookkeeping, tax compliance services, and other services listed in the AML/CTF Act for the accounting sector
- Legal practices: property transactions, trust and company formation, management of client funds, and other legal services listed as designated services
- Conveyancers: property settlement and conveyancing services
- Real estate agents: buying, selling, or leasing real property on behalf of clients
- Trust and company service providers: formation, management, or administration of legal persons or legal arrangements for clients
- Dealers in precious metals, stones, and bullion: transactions involving physical precious metals and gemstones above prescribed thresholds
Whether a specific service constitutes a designated service requires reference to the AML/CTF Act’s definition of designated services. If you are uncertain whether your firm’s services are designated, legal advice or a consultation with DBA Advisory before the commencement date is strongly recommended.
The AUSTRAC Registration Process
AUSTRAC registration is completed through AUSTRAC Online, the agency’s secure web portal. The registration process requires the entity to provide: the entity’s legal name and ABN; details of the designated services to be provided; details of the entity’s ownership and control structure; the name and contact details of the nominated AML/CTF Compliance Officer; and confirmation that the entity has adopted, or is in the process of adopting, a compliant AML/CTF program.
AUSTRAC does not charge a registration fee. The registration must be completed before the entity provides any designated service after the commencement date. Entities that provided designated services before 1 July 2026 that have since become designated services must register by the commencement date. They cannot continue providing those services after 1 July without registration.
Registration without a compliant AML/CTF program is insufficient. AUSTRAC's supervisory approach will examine whether registered entities have adopted and are maintaining a compliant program. Registration is the threshold obligation. The program is the ongoing obligation.
What Reporting Entities Must Do After Registration
Registration is the beginning of the compliance obligation, not the end. From registration, entities must:
- Maintain a compliant AML/CTF program (Part A and Part B) that reflects the entity’s designated services, customer types, and risk assessment
- Conduct customer due diligence for all new designated service customers, including identity verification and, for entities, beneficial ownership identification
- Lodge suspicious matter reports with AUSTRAC where the entity suspects that information held is relevant to a money laundering or terrorism financing offence
- Lodge threshold transaction reports for cash transactions of $10,000 or more
- Lodge international funds transfer instruction reports for international electronic funds transfers
- Maintain records of customer identification and transaction records for seven years
- Train all staff involved in providing designated services on their AML/CTF obligations
- Review and update the AML/CTF program when required by regulatory changes or material changes to the entity’s operations
After enrolment: The first-year obligations
Enrolment is the start line, not the finish. From that point the entity carries a set of recurring obligations that deserve calendar entries on day one: the annual compliance report to AUSTRAC, notification of changes to enrolment details (new services, structural changes, key personnel), and the ongoing program obligations (reviews, training, monitoring) that the rest of this library covers.
The practical move for a newly enrolled firm: build the twelve-month compliance calendar in the same week you enrol, with named owners for each date. Firms that treat enrolment as a project that ends discover the second-year obligations as surprises; firms that treat it as the first entry in a calendar simply keep going.
AUSTRAC registration for accountants:
Getting the first fortnight right
DBA Advisory handles enrolment and the first-year obligations that follow it, so nothing sits waiting on a form nobody was sure how to complete.
Enrolment follows the capture conclusion, not the other way round. Work out whether you actually provide designated services first, and document that analysis even where the answer is no. Firms that enrol reflexively without doing the work end up carrying obligations they may not have had, and firms that assume they are outside it without recording why have nothing to show when asked.
The sequence is: confirm capture, gather the details (entity structure, ABN, the designated services list, and the people who will hold compliance roles), enrol within the required window, and understand the difference between enrolling and registering, because certain service types require both. What follows enrolment is the harder part: the program, the training and the reporting obligations all start running.
How DBA Advisory Supports You
DBA Advisory offers fixed-fee AUSTRAC registration, AML/CTF program build, and compliance advisory engagements with no hidden costs. Contact our team at dbaadvisory.com to discuss your requirements. General information only, not legal, tax, or compliance advice. Verify all obligations against current AUSTRAC, ATO, and legislative guidance.
Not sure where your firm stands under Tranche 2? The AML/CTF Compliance Readiness Assessment is a scored, plain-English self-assessment you can complete in fifteen minutes. Download it free or book a meeting today!
How DBA AML Supports You
This work is delivered by DBA AML Group Pty Ltd, the specialist AML/CTF compliance entity within DBA Advisory. It is a service rather than software: real AML/CTF practitioners do the work, so what leaves your desk is the function itself, not a portal to configure and operate. You remain the reporting entity; the operations move.
DBA AML Group Pty Ltd · ACN 697 643 404 · hello@dbaaml.com · dbaaml.com · We respond within one business day. Scope and fees are confirmed after a discovery call.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Any person or entity that provides a designated service after 1 July 2026 must register with AUSTRAC. The Tranche 2 expansion brings accountants, lawyers, conveyancers, real estate agents, trust and company service providers, and dealers in precious metals and stones into the AML/CTF regime. Registration must be completed before the entity provides any designated service after the commencement date.
Registration is completed through AUSTRAC Online at austrac.gov.au. The process requires providing the entity's legal details, ABN, ownership structure, designated services, and Compliance Officer details. AUSTRAC does not charge a registration fee. Entities should allow sufficient time before 1 July 2026 to complete the registration and adopt a compliant AML/CTF program.
Providing a designated service without being registered with AUSTRAC is a contravention of the AML/CTF Act from 1 July 2026. AUSTRAC can take enforcement action including civil penalty proceedings. The maximum civil penalty for operating without registration is significant. AUSTRAC has stated that supervisory activity in the Tranche 2 sectors will commence from the commencement date.
Yes. The obligation to register applies to any entity that provides a designated service, regardless of the frequency or volume of that service. There is no minimum threshold of activity below which the registration obligation is waived. If your firm provides a designated service on even an occasional basis, registration is required.
Disclaimer
© DBA Advisory 2026. This article is intended as general information only and does not constitute legal or compliance advice. Businesses should seek qualified advice specific to their circumstances before acting on any information contained in this article.
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