AUSTRAC has released the final version of the charging model for the new AUSTRAC industry contribution for the financial period from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015. The new levy replaces the AUSTRAC supervisory levy.
The Ministerial Determination for the 2014-15 period is expected before 31 March 2015 with invoices for the new levy to be sent in April and payment due 30 days from the date the invoice is issued.
It is proposed that in order to limit the financial burden on leviable entities, the invoices for the 2015–16 financial year will not be issued until October 2015.
For the financial years 2016–17 onwards AUSTRAC intends to issue invoices by early August each year.
The industry contribution levy comprises two components: an earnings component and a component for transaction reporting activities.
The earnings component applies to leviable entities with annual earnings of $100 million or more (in the most recent financial year). It is calculated based on the earnings of an entity on the census day (to be set for a date in March 2015). If an entity is part of a group and is related to other leviable entities, the earnings component amount is based on the total earnings of the group, divided among the individual group members.
The transaction reporting component (TRC) applies to leviable entities that lodge transaction reports. This includes threshold transaction reports (TTR) and international funds transfer instruction reports (IFTIs) submitted by an entity during the previous calendar year (not financial year).
The total TRC contains the following two elements:
â—¾volume element representing the unit cost multiplied by the number of reports submitted during the January to December period in the previous calendar year, and
â—¾value element representing the unit cost multiplied by the value of the reports submitted during the January to December period in the previous calendar year.
Where leviable entities lodge transaction reports, they will not be charged if the calculated levy is less than $1,000.00.
