WMLRO.com: AUSTRAC to become a fee-based service
A little noticed provision in the Australian Federal Budget has been hidden under the fuss over super-tax on miners. AUSTRAC is to begin charging fees.
Back in the early days, AUSTRAC was a lean and hungry intelligence agency - and it made a profit in the sense that the reports it analysed and sent for prosecution produced fines and penalties that exceeded AUSTRAC's operating budget.
But in the intervening years, it's become bloated - more than 200 new posts were advertised last year alone - and those costs all have to be paid from from somewhere.
So the Federal Budget has a very small item buried away from the controversial parts that are getting all the attention.
There are currently some 17,000 businesses registered under the current (2006) legislation. Starting next fiscal year, 2011, each of them will pay an annual flat fee of AUD500. For NAB, etc, that's a gnat's nibble. For a one-man band struggling to pay his bills, it's a major blow.
But it's not the only fee. AUSTRAC was the world leader in automated cash transaction reporting, designing the system with the banks so as to make real time reports without additional work at the point of delivery of services. But that system isn't working with all the newly added businesses that aren't banks.
Cash transaction reports will, from the same implementation date, attract a fee of AUD1.06 for each report filed in respect of both international and domestic transfers. While the amount of the fee remains open to debate, the concept is settled.
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