Who is responsible for FATCA and CRS in Australia?

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is the central authority for FATCA and CRS: it issues guidance, receives XML reports from Australian reporting financial institutions and exchanges information with the IRS and CRS partner jurisdictions. The Australian Government’s Treasury leads on legislative and policy matters, while APRA and AUSTRAC supervise prudential and AML/CTF aspects that underpin FATCA/CRS compliance frameworks.

How is FATCA implemented in Australia?

FATCA is implemented in Australia through a Model 1 intergovernmental agreement with the United States. Domestically, the agreement is given effect by the Tax Laws Amendment (Implementation of the FATCA Agreement) Act 2014, which inserted Subdivision 396-A into Part 5-25 of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953. Australian reporting financial institutions report U.S. reportable accounts to the ATO, which then exchanges the information with the IRS.

How do FATCA, CRS and the QI regime interact for Australian institutions?

For Australian financial institutions, FATCA and CRS primarily drive due diligence and reporting to the ATO under Subdivisions 396-A and 396-C of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953, while the QI regime governs U.S. withholding tax documentation and liability allocation under an agreement with the IRS. Data such as residency indicators, U.S. TINs and GIINs should be consistent across all three regimes. Australian AML/CTF customer identification rules, recognised as approved KYC in the Australian QI attachment, provide a common foundation that can be leveraged for FATCA/CRS and QI compliance.

Australia — Regulatory framework (FATCA, CRS & QI)

Last updated: 24 Nov 2025

Australia — Regulatory framework

Overview of the key legal sources, competent authorities and technical standards in Australia for FATCA (Model 1 IGA), the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the U.S. Qualified Intermediary (QI) regime – including interfaces and practice notes for banks and other financial institutions.

Key takeaways

FATCA is implemented through a Model 1 IGA: Australian reporting financial institutions file to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), which exchanges data with the IRS.
CRS is implemented mainly via Subdivision 396-C of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953, supported by ATO CRS guidance.
QI remains a U.S. regime (IRS), but recognises Australian AML/CTF customer due diligence as approved KYC under the Australia-specific QI attachment.

Who is in scope?

Banks and authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs)
Custodians, brokers, investment managers and managed investment schemes
Life insurers with cash value or annuity products
Superannuation funds and other entities classified as reporting financial institutions under FATCA/CRS

1) Legal sources (selected)

Area	Source	Content / focus
FATCA (treaty level)	Australia–U.S. intergovernmental agreement to improve international tax compliance and to implement FATCA (Model 1 IGA), incl. Annex I/II	Definitions, due diligence and reporting obligations; deemed-compliant entities and exempt products (Annex II), including certain superannuation funds and other local entities. Basis for automatic exchange of information with the IRS.
FATCA (domestic)	Tax Laws Amendment (Implementation of the FATCA Agreement) Act 2014; Taxation Administration Act 1953 (TAA 1953), Subdivision 396-A – FATCA	Gives domestic effect to the FATCA IGA by inserting Subdivision 396-A into Part 5-25 of Schedule 1 to the TAA 1953: reporting obligations for Australian financial institutions, role of the ATO, time limits, penalties and confidentiality framework.
CRS	OECD Common Reporting Standard; Tax Laws Amendment (Implementation of the Common Reporting Standard) Act 2016; TAA 1953, Subdivision 396-C – Common Reporting Standard	Requires Australian financial institutions to apply CRS due-diligence procedures to identify non-resident account holders and controlling persons, and to report CRS information annually to the ATO for exchange with partner jurisdictions.
QI	IRS QI Agreement; Attachment for Australia (approved KYC rules)	U.S. withholding tax and documentation regime for U.S.-source income; the Australia attachment recognises Australian AML/CTF customer identification procedures as acceptable documentary standards for QI purposes.
AML / KYC	Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act); AML/CTF Rules; AUSTRAC guidance	Customer identification, ongoing monitoring and record-keeping requirements that underpin FATCA/CRS due diligence and QI reason-to-know assessments; core reference for approved KYC under the QI regime.
Data protection & confidentiality	Privacy Act 1988 and Australian Privacy Principles; confidentiality provisions in the TAA 1953 and ATO guidance	Legal basis and safeguards for collecting, using and disclosing personal and tax information, including information exchanged internationally under FATCA and CRS; rules on taxpayer notification, access, correction and retention.

2) Responsibilities and competent authorities

Australian Taxation Office (ATO) – central authority for FATCA (Subdivision 396-A) and CRS (Subdivision 396-C): issues guidance, registers and supports reporting financial institutions, receives and validates XML returns, and exchanges information with the IRS and CRS partner jurisdictions.
Australian Government – Treasury – policy lead for the FATCA IGA and CRS implementation, and sponsor of amendments to the TAA 1953 and related legislation on automatic exchange of information.
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) – prudential supervisor of ADIs, insurers and superannuation trustees; its expectations on risk management, governance and internal controls indirectly shape FATCA/CRS/QI compliance frameworks.
Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) – AML/CTF regulator and financial intelligence unit; AML/CTF Act and Rules set the baseline for KYC, which can be leveraged as approved KYC for QI and for FATCA/CRS due diligence.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS, U.S.) – responsible for the QI regime and for FATCA registration of Australian financial institutions (GIINs), QI/WP/WT agreements, certifications and periodic reviews.

3) Interfaces: FATCA ↔ CRS ↔ QI

Consistent classifications and identifiers. U.S. indicia, tax residency, GIINs and entity classifications should be aligned across FATCA, CRS and QI documentation to avoid mismatches between ATO and IRS data sets.
Superannuation and other exempt arrangements. Annex II to the FATCA IGA lists various Australian entities and products (including certain superannuation funds and other registered plans) as exempt or deemed-compliant. Their treatment under CRS may differ and must be analysed separately.
Leveraging AML/CTF frameworks. AML/CTF Act customer identification rules and AUSTRAC/industry guidance provide a single risk-based KYC framework. Institutions typically overlay FATCA/CRS-specific indicia checks and self-certifications, and then reuse the same records for QI documentation and reason-to-know assessments.
Withholding tax vs. reporting. FATCA and CRS in Australia focus on due diligence and reporting to the ATO, whereas the QI regime governs U.S. withholding tax documentation, treaty benefits and liability allocation along chains of intermediaries.

4) Technical and operational standards (high level)

File format. FATCA and CRS reports are filed in prescribed XML formats, based on OECD/IRS schemas and ATO technical specifications, via secure electronic channels (e.g. Online services for business / practitioner services).
Validation & error handling. Institutions must design processes to handle ATO validation rules, file-level rejections and record-level errors, and to ensure that corrected or amended reports are submitted in a timely manner.
Change management. Schema changes, updated ATO guidance and evolving AML/CTF KYC rules require governance for assessing impact, updating procedures, retraining staff and testing system changes before go-live.
Governance & evidence. Policy documentation, role descriptions, control testing, reconciliations and audit trails are key to satisfying ATO reviews, APRA/ASIC expectations and IRS QI periodic reviews.

5) Helpful internal references

Australia hub: US tax for banks in Australia
Reporting & technical implementation (Australia): Reporting & technology
Supervision & enforcement (Australia): Supervision, reviews & sanctions

Talk to us Back to Australia hub

Note: This page provides a practice-oriented overview. The binding sources are the most recent official texts and guidance (Australia–U.S. FATCA IGA and Implementation Act, TAA 1953 Subdivisions 396-A and 396-C, ATO FATCA/CRS guidance, OECD CRS materials, the IRS QI Agreement and Australian attachment, as well as AML/CTF Act, AML/CTF Rules, AUSTRAC, APRA and ASIC publications).