Cross-border movement reports: usually not your problem
A cross-border movement report is about physical currency or bearer negotiable instruments crossing the border. A professional firm that does not move that cash is usually not the reporter.
Quick answer
Do not confuse this report with an international funds transfer instruction or a threshold transaction report, which are different tests on different pages. If your firm is not moving physical currency across the border, the movement report is usually not yours. You still do not help a client structure a movement so nobody reports it. Suspicion about a matter you are involved in remains its own question.
People search “cross border movement report AUSTRAC” when a professional firm is asked whether it must report cash a client plans to carry across the border. Checked against AUSTRAC's international funds transfer reports page on 4 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that guidance. International funds transfer reports for property firms are IFTI for property firms. The sector map is /tranche-2.
Physical currency is the subject
Cross border movement report AUSTRAC results often land in a professional firm because the client mentioned cash and a flight in the same meeting. The movement report sits with the person who is moving physical currency or a bearer negotiable instrument across the border. A firm that never handles that movement is usually looking at someone else's obligation.
Usual is not never. If the firm itself were the one moving the cash, the answer would change, and this page would be the wrong place to learn the form. This page also does not help anyone split or relabel a movement.
- Name the movement. Physical currency across the border is the subject. A telegraphic transfer is a different report.
- Name the person moving it. If that person is not your firm, do not volunteer your practice as the reporter.
- Keep the other reports separate. An IFTI and a threshold transaction report have their own tests. Do not file one because you were unsure about another.
- Do not design the trip. Telling a client how to carry an amount so it stays under a line is not advice this page will give, and it is not customer due diligence.
Three reports people merge
A sorting aid when a client mentions cash and a border. This table does not reproduce AUSTRAC's reporting guidance.
| Report | What it is usually about | A professional firm |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-border movement | Physical currency or a bearer instrument crossing the border | Usually not yours if you do not move it |
| International funds transfer instruction | An instruction to transfer value internationally, where that duty applies | A different test, on the IFTI page |
| Threshold transaction report | Cash in a designated service, where the threshold test is met | Not the same form as a movement report |
| Suspicious matter report | A suspicion about a matter you are involved in | Still possible when the movement report is not yours |
Where the movement-report page stops
This page says the movement report is usually not the firm's. It is not the threshold test. That sits on threshold transaction reports. This page does not provide a form and it does not describe how to avoid one.
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. Filing a cross-border movement report is not included in the firm suite. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing. FreeAML does not lodge a cross-border movement report for you, or tell a client how to move currency so it is not reported.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Know which report is not yours.
The firm suite is A$0. The client pays customer checks. A movement report is not a check you email out.
Open the Tranche 2 guideQuestions: team@freeaml.com.au