Creation of a New Agency
The creation of a new Australian Government agency will involve obtaining a new ABN. Agencies prescribed under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA Act) or subject to the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997 (CAC Act) should follow the procedures as outlined below:
- The new agency should contact the Legislative Review Branch (LRB), Department of Finance and Deregulation (Finance), via email to LRB@finance.gov.au and will need to provide Finance with appropriate proof of identification (POI).
- If the agency is being created as a direct result of an Administrative Arrangements Order (AAO), then this should serve as sufficient POI. Other sufficient POI would include an establishing Act, Ministerial decision to create a new agency or some other document to prove that it is an Australian Government entity.
- Finance will then confirm the identity of the agency to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Large Multi-role and Government (LMG) team, Chermside, which will process the application. In addition, Finance will also provide the ATO with contact details of the agency to facilitate its registration.
- The ATO will review the request and provide the agency with the Government registration form for completion.
- All Australian Government agencies are to complete the Government Organisation registration form - unless instructed otherwise by the ATO LMG team. The Government Organisation registration form is only available from the ATO LMG team. It is not publicly available on the Tax website.
- That is, agencies should not lodge their forms electronically through the Business Entry Point (BEP) or the Electronic Lodgement System (ELS) using the 'Application to register for The New Tax System - Companies and other Organisations' (NAT 2939) form. The Government Organisation registration form issued by the ATO LMG team is to be used.
Once satisfied with the agency's application, the ATO will issue the agency with an ABN.
Contact for information on this page: LRB@finance.gov.au