From 1 July 2026, accounting firms came under Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws for the first time. For most clients the practical effect is small: we now have to verify who you are before we do certain kinds of work. Here is the short version.
Parliament extended the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act to accountants, lawyers, conveyancers, real estate agents, and company and trust service providers. The reform is known as Tranche 2. AUSTRAC regulates it, and the obligations started on 1 July 2026.
Australia was one of the last developed economies where these professions sat outside the regime. That gap has now closed.
Only some services trigger the rules. AUSTRAC calls them designated services. For an accounting firm, they include:
Preparing your tax return, lodging your BAS, producing financial statements, and giving tax advice all sit outside the rules. In practice: if you have a company or a trust, expect to be asked. If we only do your tax return, you probably will not be.
Enough to confirm you are who you say you are, and to see who ultimately controls an entity. Nothing beyond that.
We also have to check names against Australian sanctions lists and identify politically exposed persons. That happens on our side and you will not notice it.
Once, when we take you on or when we first do covered work for you. After that we keep the file current, so expect a short check-in if your structure changes, you appoint a director, or your ID expires.
Existing clients are included. Long-standing clients are usually the fastest to clear, because we already hold most of what is needed.
They go into your client file, encrypted, and only the people working on your affairs can see them. We are required to keep them for seven years after our work for you ends. We do not use them for anything else, and we do not sell or share them. Our privacy policy sets out the detail.
If you need to send ID, ask us for a secure upload link first. Plain email is not a good place for a passport scan.
That is a legal condition, not a policy of ours. Get your documents to us early and it will not hold anything up. Leave it to the week of settlement and it will.
The law calls this tipping off and it carries penalties. So if we ask a question that feels oddly specific, that is the regime at work. It is not personal, and it is not a judgement about you or your business.
Meeting these obligations takes time, systems, and ongoing monitoring, so fees apply. We are not going to spring them on you. The amount will be set out in your next engagement letter, before any work starts, so you can see exactly what you are agreeing to.
Ring your local office. It is a 15-minute conversation at most, and it is far better to ask now than to find out mid-transaction.
AUSTRAC publishes plain-English guidance for the sectors it regulates at austrac.gov.au.