Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Industry Contribution (2025-26) Determination 2026 (No.1)

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Home Affairs

Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Industry Contribution Act 2011
Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Industry Contribution (2025-26) Determination 2026 (No.1)

OUTLINE

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Industry Contribution (2025-26) Determination 2026 (No.1) (the Determination) is made by the Minister for Home Affairs under subsection 9(1) of the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Industry Contribution Act 2011 (Industry Contribution Act) for the financial year 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026 (2025-26 financial year).

Section 8 of the Industry Contribution Act imposes a levy on certain entities (‘leviable entities’) regulated and supervised by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).

The purpose of the levy is to recover the costs of the performance of AUSTRAC’s regulatory and intelligence functions. It is intended that the levy will recover 100 per cent of those costs (including depreciation) in 2025-26, with some exclusions.

Section 7 of the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Industry Contribution (Collection) Act 2011 provides that the levy is payable in one or more instalments.

The amount of each instalment is dealt with in section 9 of the Industry Contribution Act. The levy is payable in instalments, allowing more than one instalment to be payable by a leviable entity in a financial year necessary to recover AUSTRAC’s costs. For the 2025-26 financial year, only one instalment of levy will be payable.

Subsection 9(1) of the Industry Contribution Act provides for the Minister, by legislative instrument, to determine the amount of an instalment of levy payable by a leviable entity for a financial year. Paragraph 9(2)(a) requires the Minister to make at least one determination under subsection 9(1) for each financial year. Paragraph 9(2)(b) places a cap, known as the ‘statutory limit’, on the sum of all amounts of all instalments of levy payable by all leviable entities for a financial year. The term ‘statutory limit’ is defined in subsection 7(1) of the Industry Contribution Act to mean, in relation to a financial year, ‘the amount that is two times the sum of all amounts appropriated by the Parliament for the purposes of AUSTRAC for the financial year’.

The Determination sets the amount of the levy instalment for the 2025-26 financial year.

Subsection 9(3) of the Industry Contribution Act provides that a determination made for the purposes of subsection 9(1) may do one or more of the following:

• specify an amount or a method for determining an amount;
• specify different amounts or methods for different classes of leviable entities;
• specify a nil amount or a method resulting in a nil amount;
• specify methods that refer to acts done or circumstances existing before either the commencement of the determination or the commencement of the Industry Contribution Act, or both.

Subsection 9(4) of the Industry Contribution Act provides that a determination made for the purposes of subsection 9(1) for a financial year may, despite subsection 12(2) of the Legislation Act 2003, be made after the beginning of that financial year.

Details of the Determination are set out below. The Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 (Legislation Act).

LEVY STRUCTURE

The development and refinement of the structure of the industry contribution charging model was undertaken during the 2014–15 financial year, following the Federal Government’s budget announcement on 13 May 2014 that it was replacing the cost recovery arrangements administered by AUSTRAC (known as the AUSTRAC supervisory levy) with an industry contribution levy to fund its regulatory and financial intelligence functions.

The underlying structure of the charging model for the 2024-25 financial year is unchanged from the model that was used for 2014–15 and subsequent years. There have been some changes to the factors for individual components and caps, to reflect the change in the total amount to be recovered.

The industry contribution levy is considered a general taxation item.

CONSULTATION

Section 17(1) of the Legislation Act 2003 requires that, before a legislative instrument is made, among other items, the rule maker is satisfied that there has been undertaken any consultation that is considered by the rule maker to be appropriate and reasonably practical to undertake. The consultation paper for the 2025-26 industry levy was released to leviable entities and industry bodies on 23 February 2026 and consultation closed on 20 March 2026. The paper provided further detail and explanations on the proposed arrangements for the Industry Contribution for 2025-26 and the intended next steps in respect of the future levy design consultation. The paper was provided directly to relevant industry associations, organisations that had recently been levied, and was publicly available on the AUSTRAC website. All input from submissions was considered when finalising the Determination, including changes to subitem 6 of the Determination which were made to clarify the application of the transaction reporting cap to groups of leviable entities. A large portion of the issues raised were relevant to the future design of the levy model and will be considered in that context.

DETAILS OF THE DETERMINATION

Item 1 – Name of Determination

1.       This item sets out the name of the determination as the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Industry Contribution (2025-26) Determination 2026 (No. 1).

Item 2 – Commencement

1.       This item provides that the Determination will commence the day after it is registered as a legislative instrument.

Item 3 – Definitions

1.       Subsection 3(1) defines terms used in the Determination.

1.       ‘census day’. The definition of census day provides that the census day for the 2025-26 financial year is 1 July 2025. This term has the same meaning as census day in subparagraph (a) of the definition of that term in the Industry Contribution Act.
2.      ‘earnings’. The definition of earnings is the amount used to calculate the earnings component of the instalment levy under item 5 of the Determination for a leviable entity.
   1.             For a leviable entity that is an authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) or a registered financial corporation, or is part of a group of leviable entities that includes such an entity, earnings for these entities means the total profit before tax, depreciation and amortisation (PBTDA).
   2.             For all other leviable entities that are not an ADI or registered financial corporation, or part of a group of leviable entities that include such entities, earnings for those entities mean the total earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).
   3.             PBTDA and EBITDA are each calculated for a 12‑month period ending between 1 June 2024 and 31 May 2025. Neither PBTDA nor EBITDA is to be adjusted for significant items. Significant items are income or expense items that, due to their size, nature or incidence, are disclosed separately to explain financial performance.
3.       ‘leviable entity’. The definition of leviable entity provides that the meaning of the term given by the Industry Contribution Act applies. Under that Act, a leviable entity is, in relation to a financial year (being 2025-26 for the purposes of this Determination), a person who:

1.             is a reporting entity (within the meaning of section 5 of the Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing Act 2006) at any time in the previous financial year; and
2.             on the census day for the current year:
   1.        is entered on the Reporting Entities Roll under Part 3A of that Act; or
   2.       is required, under section 51B of that Act, to apply to be entered on the Reporting Entities Roll; and
3.             is not an exempt entity for the current year.

1.      ‘leviable report’. The definition of leviable report means, in relation to a leviable entity, a report given to the AUSTRAC CEO during the calendar year beginning on 1 January 2024 under subsection 43(2) or 45(2) of the AML/CTF Act, or in the form required by paragraphs 43(3)(a) and 45(2)(a), whether or not the report was required to be given under those subsections. This definition prescribes that reports of this type must be given to the AUSTRAC CEO by:
   1.             the leviable entity; or
   2.             another leviable entity that, as at the time the report was given, was a remittance affiliate of the leviable entity; or
   3.             another leviable entity that, prior to the census day, was acquired by the leviable entity.

The definition of a leviable report does not include a report that has a value of $1,000,000 or more where the transaction to report was not completed and was marked as such in the report.

Sections 43 and 45 of the AML/CTF Act respectively deal with threshold transaction reports (TTRs) and international funds transfer instructions reports (IFTIs). Section 43 and 45 of the AML/CTF Act deal with a reporting entity’s obligations to submit threshold transaction reports (TTRs) and international funds transfer instruction reports (IFTIs) to the AUSTRAC CEO, respectively.

1.       ‘National Electricity Rules’. This means the Rules made under the National Electricity Law set out in the schedule titled ‘Schedule – National Electricity Law’ to the National Electricity (South Australia) Act 1996 (SA) and as they are in force from time to time.
2.        ‘remittance affiliate’. This means a leviable entity that provides a designated service covered by item 31 or 32 of table 1 in section 6 of the AML/CTF Act as in force before 31 March 2026, as part of a network of persons of a kind referred to in item 32A of that table operated by another leviable entity.
3.      ‘registered financial corporation’. The definition of registered financial corporation provides that the meaning of the term has the same meaning as the term registered entity under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001. Under that Act, a registered entity is a corporation whose name is entered in the Register of Entities kept by APRA under section 8. APRA meaning the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

Subitem 3(2) clarifies that, where a leviable entity is a foreign company or a subsidiary of a foreign company, a reference to the total profit or total earnings of the leviable entity is a reference only to the total profit or total earnings derived from the entity’s operations in Australia. This ensures that only profit and earnings from Australian-based operations are taken into account for the purposes of calculating the levy for those entities.

Item 4 – Amount of instalment of levy

1.       Item 4 specifies the method by which the amount of the instalment of levy payable by a leviable entity for the 2025-26 financial year is to be calculated. This method is subject to five exceptions of which are outlined in subitems 4(3) to (7) of this Determination.
2.       Subitem 4(2) prescribes the method by which the amount of the instalment of levy payable by a leviable entity for the 2025-26 financial year is to be calculated. The instalment amount is calculated as the sum of the earnings component and the transaction reporting component for the leviable entity. The earnings and transaction reporting components are set out in Item 5 and 6 of this Determination, respectively.

 Exceptions to the amount of the instalment of levy payable calculation

1.       Subitem 4(3) prescribes the minimum instalment payment threshold for a leviable entity. The subitem provides that, if the amount calculated for a leviable entity under subitem 4(2) is less than $1,100, the instalment of levy payable for the 2025-26 financial year is nil. This means that where the calculated amount is $1,100 or less, no instalment is payable by that leviable entity.

Subitem 4(4) prescribes the maximum instalment payment amount for a leviable entity. Subitem 4(4)(a) provides that the maximum amount payable by a leviable entity that is not part of a group of leviable entities will not exceed $15,293,720.49 for the 2025-26 financial year.

For leviable entities that are part of a group of leviable entities, subitem 4(4)(b) provides that the total amount payable by all leviable entities in the group for the 2025-26 financial is capped at $15,293,720.49. This means that the combined total of all levy instalments payable by leviable entities in the group cannot exceed that amount.

The maximum payment amount of $15,292,720.49 is derived from a total of the earnings component cap at subitem 5(4) and the transaction reporting component at 6(5). If a leviable entity or a group of leviable entities meets the respective earnings component caps at subitem 5(4)(a) and (b), and the transaction component cap at 6(5), the maximum payment amount under subitem 4(4)(a) and (b) is the maximum amount payable by a leviable entity or a group of leviable entities, respectively.

1.       Subitem 4(5) prescribes that the amount of the instalment of levy payable for a leviable entity will be nil where that entity, in the previous financial year, being 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, provided a designated service or services only in the capacity of a remittance affiliate. This is because AUSTRAC’s primary regulatory relationship will be with remittance network providers rather than those networks’ remittance affiliates.
2.       Subitem 4(6) specifies that the amount of the instalment of levy payable for the 2025-26 financial year by a leviable entity will be nil where that entity, on the census day for the 2025-26 financial year, was a Market Generator within the meaning of the National Electricity Rules.
3.       Subitem 4(6A) provides that where a leviable entity is, on the census day for the 2025-26 financial year, a ‘Market Generator’ within the meaning of the National Electricity Rules and is part of a group of leviable entities, that entity is excluded from the calculation of the group’s instalment levy. In these circumstances, and for the purpose of calculating the amount of instalment of levy payable by any leviable entities in that group, the Market Generator’s earnings do not contribute to the total earnings of the group, and the entity is not included in the number of leviable entities in the group.
4.   Subitem 4(7) provides that a leviable entity that is a body corporate established for a public purpose by an Act passed by the Parliament of the Commonwealth is not required to pay an instalment of the levy for the 2025-26 financial year.

Item 5 – Earnings component

1.   Item 5 sets out how the earnings component of the levy is calculated for a leviable entity. This method is subject to two exceptions of which are outlined in subitems 5(3) and (4) of this Determination
2.   Subitem 5(2) prescribes the method by which the earnings component for a leviable entity is determined. Where a leviable entity is not part of a group, the earnings component is calculated as 0.18 per cent of the entity’s earnings. Where a leviable entity is part of a group of leviable entities, the earnings component is calculated by applying the same rate to the total earnings of the group, and then apportioned equally, or as otherwise advised, across each member of the group.

Exceptions to the earnings component calculations

1.   Subitem 5(3) provides a payment threshold for the earnings component for a leviable entity. This subitem provides that the earnings component of the levy is nil where a leviable entity, or a group of leviable entities, has total earnings of less than $100 million.

Subitem 5(4) provides a payment cap on the earnings component for a leviable entity. Where the earnings component calculated for a leviable entity exceeds $6 million, the earnings component is limited to $6 million. For leviable entities that are part of a group of leviable entities, the earnings component is limited to $6 million for the group. The amount will be apportioned equally between group members, or as otherwise advised.

Item 6 – Transaction reporting component

1.   The transaction reporting component for a leviable entity is calculated by reference to the TTRs and IFTIs that were lodged with AUSTRAC during the 2024 calendar year.
2.   Subitem 6(2) prescribes how the transaction reporting component is calculated by reference to both the number and total value of leviable reports given by a leviable entity in the 2024 calendar year. The formula is made up of two elements, one for transaction report volume and one for transaction report value.
3.   Where the total value of leviable reports given by a leviable entity is less than $15 billion, the transaction reporting component is calculated as follows:

• 1.4 cents for each leviable report made by a leviable entity in the 2024 calendar year; and
• 0.00047140 per cent of the value of the transaction to which the leviable report relates.

1.   Where the total value of leviable reports given by the entity is more than $15 billion, the transaction reporting component is calculated as follows:

• 1.4 cents for each leviable report made by a leviable entity in the 2024 calendar year; and
• 0.000797592 per cent of the value of the transaction to which the leviable report relates.

1.   Subitem 6(3) clarifies that a leviable report used in calculating one leviable entity’s transaction reporting component cannot be used again in calculating the transaction reporting component of another leviable entity where the leviable report is of the type referred to in paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition of leviable report. This prevents ‘double-counting’ of the same reports across multiple leviable entities.
2.   Subitem 6(4) clarifies that, for the purposes of calculating the transaction reporting component, the value of a leviable report is taken to be the value of the underlying transaction to which the report relates. This ensures that the calculation is based on the value of the transaction being reported and assists with avoiding doubt as to what is meant by the ‘value of a leviable report’ in subitem 6(2).
3.   Subitem 6(5) prescribes a cap on the transaction reporting component of the levy. This subitem caps the transaction reporting component at $9,293,720.49 if the amount calculated for a leviable entity, or for a group of leviable entities, under paragraphs 6(2)(a) and/ or 6(2)(b) exceeds that amount.