With the passing of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Bill 2026 (Cth) at the end of June, new director identification (director ID) number duties have been inserted into the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
Underpinning these reforms is a focus on strengthening transparency, reducing fraud and identity misuse, and improving the accuracy and usability of Australia's business registers. The reforms form part of broader work being done to harmonise business registries, including the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) register and the Australian Charities and Not‑for‑profits Commission (ACNC) register.Â
From 1 July 2027, companies and bodies registered under the Corporations Act must provide their directors' director IDs to ASIC as part of their annual and ongoing reporting requirements. To support compliance with this new obligation, every individual director will also be required to provide their director ID to their organisation. Deadlines apply to both of these requirements.
Failure to comply with these requirements may attract serious penalties, so it is important to understand what your organisation and its directors will need to do. ASIC has published helpful initial guidance and responses to several FAQs on what these changes will mean.
Do these changes apply to registered charities?
Companies and registered bodies which are also ACNC-registered charities are exempt from the new ongoing director ID reporting requirements.
However, charities that are applying to ASIC to change to a company limited by guarantee structure, or become a registered Australian body will, from 1 July 2027, need to provide their directors' director IDs when lodging those ASIC applications. After that, they will generally be exempt from the ongoing reporting requirements.
Importantly, the existing requirement for directors of companies and registered Australian bodies to have their own director ID remains unchanged, including where those entities are charities.
What actions do you need to take?
Organisations do not need to take any immediate action in response to these changes.
ASIC is recommending that companies and registered Australian bodies check that the information they have provided to ASIC is up to date. This includes contact details, addresses and details of current directors. You can find out how to make changes to your company details here.
