The compliance report is a report you submit to us each year that includes questions about how you have met your anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) obligations.
The compliance report is a requirement under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (the Act). There can be penalties for failing to submit your compliance report.
Learn more about the consequences of not complying.
When to submit a compliance report
This section refers to the Act section 47(2) and Rules section 9-9.
The annual compliance reporting period is changing to financial years. The next reporting period will be 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027.
You must submit your compliance report within 3 months of a reporting period ending. The submission period will be 1 July and 30 September of each year. Your report will cover your business activities for the previous financial year of 1 July to 30 June.
How to submit your report
This section refers to the Act section 47(3).
To submit a compliance report, you must be listed as an administrator in your AUSTRAC Online account. There is no limit to the number of administrators an AUSTRAC Online account can have.
To complete and submit your report:
- Log in to AUSTRAC Online
- Expand the Business menu
- Select Compliance Reports
- Select Open Compliance Report
To learn more visit User guide: Compliance reports.
You must submit your compliance report using the form in AUSTRAC Online, and ensure you provide all the required information.
There are instructions in the form to help you complete it. You can save the form as you go so you don't need to complete it in one session. You can also access previous compliance reports you have submitted.
Make sure your details are up to date in AUSTRAC Online, especially the list of the designated services you provide.
Make sure you know when it’s time to submit
It’s important to make sure your contact details are up to date so we can send you reminders by email and messages to your AUSTRAC Online account. This includes email addresses for your compliance officer and primary contacts.
How we use the information in your compliance report
The information in your compliance reports helps us:
- to see if you need any extra assistance to meet your obligations
- improve our education and guidance for businesses
- develop supervision campaigns and assessments.
Who must submit an annual compliance report
If you provide designated services you must submit a compliance report to AUSTRAC. We outline special circumstances or exemptions that may apply below.
Reporting groups
If you are part of a reporting group, only one member should lodge the annual compliance report on behalf of all members in the group.
The member who submitted the report should notify all group members so that everyone knows the report has been lodged, as we don’t advise other members of a reporting group when we receive a report.
Any group member can choose to submit their own compliance report if substantially different from other reporting group members. To do this:
- Log in to AUSTRAC Online
- Open Compliance Reports in the My Business menu
- Find the submitted reporting group report in the Existing Reports list and select the override link.
When you have closed or sold your business
If any of the following apply to your business, you are only required to complete the first question of the compliance report to advise AUSTRAC of your circumstances:
- you sold or closed your business
- you didn’t provide any designated services during the reporting period
- your business was merged with or acquired by another business.
Note: If you have stopped providing designated services, you must request removal from AUSTRAC’s roll or registers. You can do this through your business profile page in AUSTRAC Online. You will continue to receive emails from AUSTRAC until you have requested removal.
Exemptions
You don’t need to submit a compliance report if you:
- are a small gaming venue with a licence for no more than 15 electronic gaming machines and you don’t provide any other designated services
- are solely registered as an affiliate of a remittance network provider (RNP) and you don’t provide any other designated services
- hold an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) and the only designated service you provide is to make arrangements for customers to receive a designated service rather than providing the designated service yourself.
- have been granted an exemption specifically exempting you. You can check if your business already has an exemption that applies to the compliance report.
Penalties for not submitting a report
If you are required to submit a compliance report and you don’t submit your report by the due date, you may be subject to enforcement action. This can include a remedial direction, and/or an infringement notice. Find out more about penalties and enforcement.
Related pages
This guidance sets out how we interpret certain Australian legislation, along with associated Rules and regulations. Australian courts are ultimately responsible for interpreting these laws and determining if any provisions of these laws are contravened.
The examples and scenarios in this guidance are meant to help explain our interpretation of these laws. They’re not exhaustive or meant to cover every possible scenario.
This guidance provides general information and isn't a substitute for legal advice. This guidance avoids legal language wherever possible and it might include generalisations about the application of the law. Some provisions of the law referred to have exceptions or important qualifications. In most cases your particular circumstances must be taken into account when determining how the law applies to you.