What is a section 167 notice?
Section 167 sits in Part 14 of the Act, which deals with AUSTRAC's information-gathering powers. It applies to a person if an authorised officer reasonably believes the person has knowledge of information, or possession or control of a document, that is relevant to the compliance with or enforcement of:
- an offence provision of the Act or the regulations,
- a civil penalty provision of the Act or the regulations, or
- an offence provision of the Crimes Act 1914 or the Criminal Code, to the extent it relates to the Act (s 167(1)).
An authorised officer is the AUSTRAC CEO or a person appointed by the CEO under s 145 (s 5). The notice must be in writing (s 167(2)).
The section was amended by the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 (Act No. 110 of 2024). AUSTRAC's guidance on its information-gathering powers says the amendment expanded who may receive a notice and narrowed the purpose for which one may be issued, and that a notice can now be issued to any person who holds relevant information or documents.
Who can receive section 167 notices, and what AUSTRAC can require
The section applies to 'a person'. You do not have to be enrolled, or be a reporting entity at all. A firm that believes it provides no designated services can still receive one, and so can a firm that holds documents about someone else, such as a client or a former client.
| The notice can require you to | Provision | Practical point |
|---|---|---|
| Give information to the authorised officer | s 167(2)(a) | This can mean written answers to questions, which someone has to prepare. It is more than handing over existing files. |
| Produce documents | s 167(2)(b) | An authorised officer may inspect and copy what you produce (s 170), and may keep a document for as long as reasonably necessary. You are then entitled to a certified copy as soon as practicable (s 171). |
| Make copies of documents and produce the copies | s 167(2)(c) | You are entitled to reasonable compensation for complying with a requirement to make copies (s 168). |
Each requirement must be met 'within the period and in the manner specified in the notice'. The notice must also set out the effect of the offence in s 167(3), the privilege provisions in s 167(5) and (6), and sections 136 and 137 on false or misleading information and documents (s 167(4)).
AUSTRAC's guidance says the notice and its covering letter will explain which section gives the power, why the notice was issued, what you need to do and the potential consequences of not complying. You will also get contact details for AUSTRAC staff in case something is unclear or you think you will have difficulty complying.
Check which section your notice names. A notice under s 202 can only go to a person believed to be a reporting entity and is limited to questions about designated services. A notice under s 172A can require a person to attend an examination.
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Section 167 notices and the newly regulated professions
The regime expanded on 1 July 2026 to cover real estate, legal, accounting, conveyancing, trust and company services, and dealers in precious metals and stones. This is what AUSTRAC's own site says about notices since then.
- 28 August 2026. AUSTRAC published an article saying it 'has begun issuing section 167 notices to businesses that appear to be providing designated services but have not enrolled'. It said the notices require businesses 'including real estate agents, accountants, lawyers and jewellers' to provide information to help AUSTRAC determine whether they are providing regulated services and meeting their obligations.
- 30 September 2026. AUSTRAC announced it had begun issuing infringement notices for failing to enrol, following 'formal requests for information issued by AUSTRAC in August'. The infringement notices went to businesses in the real estate, accounting and jewellery sectors, at $21,840 for corporate entities and $4,368 for individuals. AUSTRAC's CEO said about 90 per cent of the group it first looked at had by then enrolled or attempted to enrol.
Neither announcement says how many notices were issued or names any business that received one. Both tie the notices to enrolment. Under s 51B a person must apply to enrol no later than 28 days after the day they start providing a designated service.
How long do you have to respond?
Section 167 does not set a number of days. The period is whatever the notice specifies, so the date in your notice is the only one that matters. The same date applies to any LPP form (s 167(5)).
The Act does not set out a process for extending the period. AUSTRAC's guidance points you to the staff contact named in the notice if you think you will have difficulty complying. If you need more time, ask early, in writing, and say what you can produce by the original date. Do not treat a request as granted until AUSTRAC confirms it in writing.
What happens if you do not comply
The Act gives AUSTRAC three routes, plus a separate offence for false answers. A penalty unit is $364 for offences committed on or after 1 July 2026 (Crimes (Amount of a Penalty Unit) Instrument 2026).
| Consequence | Provision | Maximum stated in the Act |
|---|---|---|
| Criminal offence: you were given a notice and omit to do an act, and the omission contravenes a requirement in the notice | s 167(3) | Imprisonment for 6 months or 30 penalty units ($10,920), or both |
| Civil penalty: a person must comply with a notice | s 167(3A) and (3B), s 175 | A Federal Court penalty of up to 100,000 penalty units ($36.4 million) for a body corporate and 20,000 penalty units ($7.28 million) for anyone else |
| Civil penalty: failing to give an LPP form for material you withhold as privileged | s 167(5) and (6), s 175 | The same civil penalty maximums |
| Infringement notice for either contravention above | s 184(4)(h) and (i), s 186B | 60 penalty units ($21,840) for a body corporate, 12 penalty units ($4,368) for anyone else |
| Knowingly giving false or misleading information, or producing a false or misleading document | ss 136 and 137 | Imprisonment for 10 years or 10,000 penalty units, or both |
Those are maximums. The Federal Court sets a civil penalty after weighing the matters in s 175(3), including the nature and extent of the contravention.
You cannot refuse because the answer might incriminate you
A person is not excused from giving information or producing a document under s 167 on the ground that it might tend to incriminate them or expose them to a penalty (s 169(1)). There is a limit on later use, but it has exceptions: what you give can still be used against you in proceedings under the Act, in related proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and in the criminal proceedings listed in s 169(2)(d). Have a lawyer check the response before it goes.
Legal professional privilege and a section 167 notice
Privilege survives. Section 242 says nothing in the Act affects a person's right to refuse to give information or produce a document that would be privileged on the ground of legal professional privilege. The Act attaches a procedure to that right.
- If you reasonably believe information or a document covered by the notice is privileged, you must give the AUSTRAC CEO an LPP form for it within the period specified in the notice (s 167(5)). Not doing so is a civil penalty contravention (s 167(6)).
- An LPP form is a written notice in the approved form that specifies the basis on which the material is privileged (s 5). AUSTRAC publishes a 'responding notice' LPP form in Word and Excel and says forms for notices are sent by email to lpp.forms@austrac.gov.au.
- Describing privileged material on the form does not, of itself, waive the privilege (s 242(2)). AUSTRAC's guidance says privileged information does not have to be provided in the form.
- Everything in the notice that is not privileged must still be produced on time.
Three cautions from AUSTRAC's privilege guidance. First, privilege is generally narrower than a lawyer's duty of confidentiality, and that duty has exceptions, including where disclosure is compelled by law. Rule 9.2.2 of the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules says the same thing: a solicitor may disclose confidential information where permitted or compelled by law. So confidentiality alone is not a ground for holding a document back. Second, if you are not a lawyer, AUSTRAC recommends legal advice before withholding anything as privileged. An accountant or conveyancer may hold documents over which a client has privilege, and AUSTRAC's guidance deals separately with a person who is not the holder of the privilege. Third, AUSTRAC may ask for further information to decide whether to review or challenge a claim.
Section 242A lets the Minister make guidelines on handling privilege claims. AUSTRAC's privilege page, last updated 1 July 2026, says the Minister for Home Affairs will issue them. Check whether they have been released before you lodge a form.
What to do in the first 48 hours
- Read the notice and covering letter in full. Note the section it is given under, who it is addressed to, each item required, the manner of production and the due date.
- Diarise the due date and record when and how the notice arrived.
- Tell the right people and nobody else: the principals, your AML/CTF compliance officer if you have one, and your lawyer. Keep the notice and the response in a restricted folder.
- Stop routine deletion of email, call transcripts, drafts and archived files that could hold something the notice asks for.
- Get advice. Solicitors should check whether their professional indemnity policy asks to be told.
- Map each item in the notice to where the records are and who will collect them. Find the gaps now.
- Start the privilege review and list what you will withhold for the LPP form.
- Work out whether you provide designated services, and from what date. If you do and are not enrolled, get advice on enrolling straight away.
- If the date is not achievable, write to the AUSTRAC officer named in the notice now and say what you can deliver by when.
- Do not create, backdate or tidy records. Produce what exists and explain gaps. Knowingly giving false or misleading information or documents carries up to 10 years' imprisonment (ss 136 and 137).
The records that make a response easy
AUSTRAC says the notices help it determine whether a business is providing regulated services and meeting its obligations. A firm can answer both questions quickly if these records already exist.
| Question behind the notice | Record that answers it | Where the duty to keep it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Do you provide designated services, and since when? | A dated list of your service lines checked against table 6 in section 6 of the Act, with the reasoning for each one you decided is outside it | Good practice. Without it you have nothing to show for a decision not to enrol |
| Are you enrolled, and was it on time? | The date you first provided a designated service and your enrolment application | s 51B |
| Do you have an AML/CTF program? | The documented risk assessment and policies, senior manager approval, and compliance officer details | ss 26K, 26N, 26P and 116 |
| Did you identify the client and understand the matter? | Customer due diligence records: the data collected, how identity was verified, beneficial owners, and the nature and purpose of the work | s 111(2) and (3)(a), kept for 7 years after the relationship ends |
| Why did you rate the client's risk the way you did? | File notes of instructions and of the reasoning behind each risk decision, made at the time | s 111(3)(b): records of any analysis, assessment of risk or decision making |
| What happened to the money? | Transaction records sufficient to reconstruct individual transactions | s 107, kept for 7 years from the day the record is made |
The fifth row is the hardest to produce after the event. Identity documents sit in a system, but the reasoning often lives only in a phone call. We set out what to record in our guides for law firms, conveyancers and accountants and bookkeepers.
Example: a note that answers the first question
This fictional note records why a piece of work was treated as a designated service. Written on the day, it is the kind of document a practice could produce in response to a notice about enrolment.
- What the client wants
Marcus runs a landscaping business as a sole trader. He wants a company to run the business and a discretionary family trust to own the shares. He asked the practice to arrange both and to act as the company's registered office.
- Is this a designated service?
Yes. Helping to create a company and a trust falls within item 6 of table 6 in section 6 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, and providing a registered office address falls within item 9. This is the first designated service the practice has provided since 1 July 2026, so the practice must apply to enrol with AUSTRAC by 11 August 2026.
- Who the client is and who benefits
Marcus is the only director and shareholder of the proposed trustee company. The trust's beneficiaries will be Marcus, his wife Elena Bell and their two children. Marcus confirmed nobody else will control or fund the structure.
- Purpose and source of funds
The purpose is to limit personal liability and plan for tax. The only money involved is the set-up cost, paid from the business account Marcus has held since 2019.
- Risk rating and reasons
Low. Marcus has been a tax client for six years, the business and its income are known to the practice, the structure is simple, everyone involved lives in Australia, and Marcus said nobody involved holds public office.
- Next steps
- Helen to complete customer due diligence on the company, the trust and the people behind them before any work starts.
- Helen to lodge the AUSTRAC enrolment application this week.
- Marcus to send the business bank statements for the last three months.
Where a file note tool fits
CallNote does not respond to notices, verify identity, screen names or lodge anything with AUSTRAC. It is not an AML/CTF program. It helps with one row of the table above: a consistent, dated record of client conversations, which is where instructions, purpose and the reasons for a risk decision usually come out.
CallNote turns a call or meeting transcript that already exists into a structured file note in your own format. Transcripts arrive automatically from Aircall, Dialpad and Microsoft Teams, or you paste or upload one, or dictate a voice memo after a meeting in person. There is no special accountant or conveyancer template, so you work from a general template or one built from your own past note. After review the note is sealed with a checksum and locked, and later changes are append-only amendments. We never record calls or join meetings, and data is hosted in Sydney. Test your current notes with the file note audit readiness checker, and read how long to keep file notes.
Common questions
What is a section 167 notice from AUSTRAC?
It is a written notice given by an AUSTRAC authorised officer under section 167 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006. It requires the person named to give information, produce documents, or make and produce copies of documents, within the period and in the manner the notice specifies.
Who can AUSTRAC give section 167 notices to?
Any person the authorised officer reasonably believes has relevant information or documents. The person does not need to be enrolled with AUSTRAC or be a reporting entity. AUSTRAC said on 28 August 2026 that it had begun issuing section 167 notices to businesses, including real estate agents, accountants, lawyers and jewellers, that appear to provide designated services but have not enrolled.
How long do you have to respond to a section 167 notice?
The Act does not set a fixed number of days. You must respond within the period specified in the notice itself. If you cannot meet it, contact the AUSTRAC staff member named in the notice as early as possible, in writing. AUSTRAC's guidance says the notice comes with contact details for use if you think you will have difficulty complying.
What is the penalty for not complying with a section 167 notice?
Omitting to do something the notice requires is an offence with a maximum of 6 months' imprisonment or 30 penalty units, or both (s 167(3)). Failing to comply is also a civil penalty contravention, with a maximum of 100,000 penalty units for a body corporate and 20,000 for anyone else (ss 167(3A) and 175). AUSTRAC can instead issue an infringement notice of 60 penalty units for a body corporate or 12 for anyone else (s 186B). A penalty unit is $364 from 1 July 2026.
Can a lawyer refuse a section 167 notice because of legal professional privilege?
A lawyer can withhold material that is privileged, because s 242 preserves the right to refuse on that ground. The lawyer must give AUSTRAC an LPP form for the withheld material by the deadline in the notice (s 167(5)), and must still produce everything that is not privileged. Privilege is narrower than confidentiality, and confidentiality alone does not justify refusing.
Is a section 167 notice the same as an infringement notice?
No. A section 167 notice asks for information or documents. An infringement notice alleges a contravention and sets a penalty to pay. One can follow the other. On 30 September 2026 AUSTRAC said it had begun issuing infringement notices for failing to enrol, at $21,840 for corporate entities and $4,368 for individuals, following formal requests for information it issued in August.