Enrolment versus registration: why most Tranche 2 firms only enrol
Enrolment is the step a new reporting entity takes with AUSTRAC. Registration is a further gate for a narrower set of services, which is why most Tranche 2 firms only enrol.
Quick answer
A tax practice, a law firm, a conveyancer, and a suburban agency start with enrolment, and registration is not a second word for the same form. It applies to services AUSTRAC lists as registrable, which the new professional and real estate services usually are not, so read the list before you assume you are in it. This page does not mark you enrolled or registered, and the firm suite is A$0. The client pays any later check.
People search “AUSTRAC enrolment vs registration” when a principal has both words from a seminar and is about to complete the wrong AUSTRAC process. Checked against AUSTRAC’s enrol page for the reforms on 4 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that guidance. The enrolment walk-through is the AUSTRAC enrolment guide. The date question people mix in is registration and 31 March 2026. The sector map is /tranche-2.
Two gates, most firms meet one
AUSTRAC enrolment vs registration is a pair of processes, not two names for one login, and enrolment tells AUSTRAC that a business is a reporting entity and how to find it. Registration is an additional permission for designated services that the regime has long treated as registrable, such as certain remittance and digital-currency services. A firm whose designated services are the new professional, conveyancing, or real estate ones is usually standing at enrolment only, and usually is not a determination. You read AUSTRAC’s list against the services you actually provide.
Doing both because the words appeared on one slide wastes a week and can put the wrong facts on the wrong form, and doing neither because you were unsure is the larger problem. The business enrols. A software account does not. This page does not reproduce the enrol guidance and it does not set the March date.
- Start from the service. If you do not provide a registrable service, do not treat registration as the Tranche 2 homework.
- Enrol the business. The partnership, the company, or the sole trader enrols. A staff member’s personal errand is not the enrolment.
- Keep the date page separate. A deadline is a calendar fact on the registration and enrolment guides. This page is only the difference between the two gates.
- Then write the program. Enrolment without a program is a form. The program is what staff follow on a file.
Which word you looked up
A short checklist for the enrolment itself is the AUSTRAC enrolment checklist. What a reporting entity is, before either form, is reporting entity in Australia.
A sorting aid for the two AUSTRAC gates. This table does not reproduce AUSTRAC’s enrolment guidance.
| Your services | The gate in front of you | The wrong turn |
|---|---|---|
| Legal, accounting, conveyancing, or real estate designated services only | Enrolment, unless a separate registrable service is also yours | Opening a registration because the seminar said both |
| A registrable service AUSTRAC lists | Enrolment and registration | Assuming the new reforms abolished registration |
| No designated service at all | Neither gate | Enrolling because a competitor did |
| You are already enrolled and adding a service | Update the enrolment, and ask the registration question again | Leaving the old form to describe a new business |
Where the two-gates page stops
This page is why most Tranche 2 firms only enrol. It is not the form guide and it is not a decision that your service is registrable. FreeAML does not lodge either process.
What the client pays
On FreeAML the firm suite is A$0. The firm emails the client a link. Verification is client-pays. On the public list a personal KYC check is A$20 and a company or trust KYB check is A$40. Use KYB when the customer is a company or a trust. Enrolment is not a KYC fee, and registration is not a KYB fee, because neither form is a customer check. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing. FreeAML does not enrol you, register you, or choose which AUSTRAC form is yours.
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Frequently Asked Questions
See the sector step before you open a form.
The firm suite is A$0. The client pays checks the program later requires. Enrolment itself is the business’s job with AUSTRAC.
Open the Tranche 2 guideQuestions: team@freeaml.com.au