Director Identification Number Regime FAQ's – NowInfinity

What is the Australian Business Registry Services (ABRS)?

The Australian Business Registry Services is an ATO governing department established to bring together the Australian Business Register (ABR) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) registers into a single registry, in order to streamline how businesses register, view and maintain their business information with the government.

The ABRS will also introduce and maintain the Director Identification Numbers.

What is a Director Identification Number (Director ID)?

The Director Identification Number is a 15 digit unique identifier that will help prevent the use of false or fraudulent Director identities with the new registry services of the ABRS. This will make it easier to trace Director's relationships with companies, identify and eliminate their involvement in illegal activities such as illegal phoenix activity.

All Directors will be required under the law to apply for a Director ID.

A Director ID will only be given to an individual who has verified their identity with the registrar of the ABRS.

An individual will only need to apply for a Director ID once and will keep it forever even if they change companies, stop being a Director, change their name or move interstate or overseas.

Individuals will need to apply for their own Director ID. Agents or advisors cannot apply for a Director ID on behalf of a client.

Who needs a Director ID?

Individuals will be required to hold a Director ID if they are a Director (or act as an Alternate Director) of a:

Individuals who intend to become a Director within 12 months may also apply for a Director ID.

When do individuals need to apply for a Director ID?

The following transitional arrangements will be applicable:

Note: "Must apply" in the above column means that the Director needs to have applied and/or received the Director ID.

How do individuals apply online for a Director ID?

To apply online:

What two Australian identity documents can be used to register for a myGovID?

Identity documents that can be used for verification:

What two ATO documents can be used to complete the proof of record ownership?

ATO records that can be used for verification:

How will NowInfinity manage Director ID's on the platform, and when is this expected to be available?

NowInfinity will be providing a new field in the company profile so you can store the Director ID's in Corporate Messenger.

This data field will thereafter be utilised for data prefilling in our platform interview forms to report to ASIC, once it becomes available.

This will meet all minimum requirements set by the ABRS for Directors and will be available on our platform in November 2021.

How will the Director ID's affect the lodgement of ASIC forms via Corporate Messenger?

ASIC has not updated any of their ASIC forms which are lodged via their Edge system. Accordingly, the Director ID will not be required to be input into any current ASIC forms, where Directors details are required.

However, ASIC will be providing further guidance in late 2022-23 in relation to the changes to their forms. We will provide further updates to you, our NowInfinity users on these changes.

How will the Director ID's affect the registration of new companies on the NowInfinity platform?

ASIC has not updated their Form 201, which is lodged via their Edge system. Accordingly, the Director ID will not be required to be input into Form 201 in order to register a new company.

However, ASIC will be providing further guidance in 2022-23 in relation to the changes to their forms. We will provide further updates to you, our NowInfinity users on these changes.

We will be updating our interview forms to provide an optional field so you can input the Director ID's, in order to record the data on the company profile in Corporate Messenger.

How do Director ID's get linked to associated companies?

NowInfinity users or their client Directors are not required to complete any additional steps to associate their Director ID to their associated companies. This will be automatically completed and handled by ASIC. The Director ID will be tied to the individual and any companies the individual is a Director of will have an association of the individual record that holds the Director ID. Where there are any discrepancies in the company records associated to an individual (eg. a difference in names, addresses, etc) ASIC will reach out to the relevant Director and/or their Agent and request they update their records.

NowInfinity users will have the ability to manually record their client's Director ID's on the respective company profiles on Corporate Messenger only.