Will the Annual Report to AUSTRAC be automated?
easyAML auto-populates the bulk of the Annual Compliance Report from data the platform already holds, then presents the draft for Compliance Officer review and lodgement.
Overview
Yes, to a large extent. The AUSTRAC Annual Compliance Report is a ~100-question annual return covering the prior calendar year, due January-March each year. easyAML auto-populates the bulk of it from data the platform already holds, then presents the draft to the Compliance Officer for review and lodgement - typically reducing the exercise from days of manual data gathering to an hour or two of review.
What the platform auto-populates
- Customer numbers and risk-profile distribution (low/medium/high)
- Designated services provided in the year, by category
- CDD volumes - KYC count, KYB count, reliance arrangements used, ECDD instances
- Reporting activity - SMR, TTR and UAR counts
- Training completion - staff trained, modules completed, refresh status
- Sector and entity context - from your enrolment record and Risk Assessment
What the CO must do
Review the draft for accuracy (the platform's data is the source of truth, but the CO confirms the position); add narrative responses to open-ended questions (e.g. "describe any material changes to your AML/CTF Program in the reporting period"); and lodge the final report via AUSTRAC Online. AUSTRAC doesn't yet expose a submission API, so the CO copies the final from easyAML into AUSTRAC Online.
Adding information outside the standard report
Anything beyond the standard data points - supplementary disclosures, voluntary information, context that doesn't fit the form - can be submitted to AUSTRAC directly: for material disclosures, write to AUSTRAC's reporting contact referencing your Annual Report submission ID; or use the free-text/narrative fields within the report itself where the context relates to a specific question. For most Tranche 2 firms in their first year (reporting period 1 July - 31 December 2026, lodged Jan-Mar 2027), all data will sit within easyAML and the auto-populated report will be complete. See AUSTRAC's reporting guidance.