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The Suspicion Came From a Privileged Conversation. AUSTRAC Still Wants a Form, and It Comes With Its Own Clock.

Legal professional privilege survived the AML/CTF reforms intact. What changed on 1 July 2026 is the paperwork around it: a form that goes in whenever you withhold privileged information from a report or a notice, a five business day SMR window instead of three, and a civil penalty for skipping the form. Here is when privilege actually lets you stay silent, when it does not, and how the form works for a lawyer, and for the accountant whose client repeated what their lawyer said.

17 Sept 2026 / 12 min read