Item 2 of 6 · back to the agenda
The director ID, seen from the board table
A director ID belongs to the director, and ABRS says no one can apply for it on their behalf. The company still has its part. ABRS says each director needs to give their ID to the company so it can meet its regulatory reporting obligations, and ASIC says that from 1 July 2027 companies will need to provide their directors’ IDs to ASIC.
General information, not legal advice. ABRS verifies directors’ identities and administers director IDs; ASIC registers companies and enforces director ID obligations. How a director applies is set out on ABRS’s own page, Apply for your director ID.
2.1
Whose number it is
ABRS says a director ID is needed by the directors of a company, a registered Australian body, a registered foreign company or an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporation. ABRS’s check is ABN Lookup, where a company shows an Australian Company Number (ACN) and a registered body an Australian Registered Body Number (ARBN).
The number is the director’s own. ABRS says each director applies personally, to verify their own identity, and that an authorised tax, BAS or ASIC agent can help decide whether one is needed but cannot apply for it. A company secretary who is not also a director does not need one.
2.2
Four moments on the board’s papers
The points where the regulators’ pages bring the director ID before a company, set out as a board paper might list them.
Before an appointment
ASIC says a person who plans to become a director must apply for a director ID before being appointed, and an existing director without one must apply straight away. ABRS adds that a request for more time goes on its extension form, before the person applies.
When the number arrives
ABRS asks a Corporations Act director to give their ID to the person who maintains each company’s records, such as the company secretary, an authorised representative or the company’s ASIC agent. A director of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporation gives it to the corporation’s record-holder within 14 days of receiving it.
When a director’s details change
ABRS says a Corporations Act director must tell the company within 7 days when their personal details change, such as their name, role or address, and whoever keeps the officeholders’ details up to date must tell ASIC within 28 days to avoid late fees. For an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporation, the director has 14 days to tell the corporation, and the corporation 28 days to tell the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC). ASIC adds that the director ID changes nothing else: officeholder details and company addresses must still be kept up to date with ASIC.
From 1 July 2027
Today, ASIC says, a company does not give ASIC its directors’ IDs when it registers or changes director details. From 1 July 2027, companies will be required by law to provide them, through reporting such as the annual review or a notice of changes to directors’ details, and a company with more than one director will need to collect each current director’s ID. Over time, the companies register will show whether a company has done so. Until then, ASIC encourages companies and directors to check that every current director is correctly recorded, and says further guidance will come before that date.
2.3
Questions for an incoming director
Each question below is drawn from a regulator’s page, with that page’s answer beside it.
| Question | What the regulator says |
|---|---|
| Have you applied for your director ID? | ASIC and ABRS both say a person who plans to become a director must apply before being appointed. |
| Can you be a director? | ABRS says a Corporations Act director must be an individual aged at least 18 who is not disqualified from managing corporations, unless ASIC or the Court has given permission. Item 1 sets out who cannot take the seat. |
| Have you signed your consent? | ASIC says the company must obtain the person’s signed, written consent before the appointment, and keep it. |
| Who at the company will hold your ID? | ABRS names the person who maintains the company’s records, such as the company secretary, an authorised representative or the ASIC agent. |
| Are your details with ABRS current? | ABRS says a director whose personal details have changed since applying must update them, so the ID can be checked against the records ASIC holds. |
2.4
Keeping the number
ABRS says a director ID is not governed by the same rules as a tax file number, and that an authorised agent or company secretary must make sure information about a company and its officeholders is handled in line with their legal obligations and stored securely under the Privacy Act 1988. For now, ABRS says, director IDs cannot be searched by the public.
Among a director’s own obligations, ABRS lists not misrepresenting their director ID to a company, and it calls failing to apply on time a criminal offence. ASIC enforces the director ID offences set out in the Corporations Act.
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