Guide · director identification number

How to find your director ID

Your director ID is shown in your profile on ABRS online: log in with your myID at abrs.gov.au and the 15-digit number, beginning 036, is on the screen. If you cannot use myID, phone Australian Business Registry Services on 13 62 50, 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, with your tax file number and two identity documents.

Where the number is

A director identification number, usually shortened to director ID or DIN, is issued once and kept for life. It was given to you on the screen when you applied, and if you did not write it down it is in exactly one place: your profile on ABRS online, the Australian Business Registry Services site at abrs.gov.au. Nobody else can look it up for you, because it is not on any public register.

1
Open the myID app on your phone and make sure it is set up at Standard identity strength or higher.myID is the Australian Government's digital identity app, formerly called myGovID. If you applied for your director ID online, this is what you used.
2
Go to abrs.gov.au and choose to log in to ABRS online.Approve the login in the app when it asks.
3
Open your profile. Your director ID, its status and the date it was issued are shown there.Write it down this time, or save it in the same place you keep the company's ACN. You will be asked for it whenever you are appointed to a company or a company document is lodged.

If you cannot use myID

Phone Australian Business Registry Services on 13 62 50 (from overseas, +61 2 6216 3440), 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday. Have your tax file number and two identity documents ready — a passport, driver's licence, Medicare card or birth certificate. The same number takes new applications by phone for people who cannot set up a digital identity, and there are paper forms for people overseas or without the documents a digital identity needs.

What a director ID looks like, and what it is for

Fifteen digits, beginning 036 — the country code for Australia — followed by an eleven-digit number and a check digit. It identifies you, the person, not any company. If you are a director of three companies you have one director ID and the companies have three ACNs. It exists so that a name cannot be used as a director without the person behind it, and so that a director's history follows them from company to company.

Who must have one, and when

Every director of an Australian company, of a registered Australian body or registered foreign company, and of a corporate trustee — which includes the trustee company of a family trust or a self-managed super fund. Alternate directors too. A new director must have the number before being appointed: ASIC will not register a company until every proposed director can supply one. Sole traders, partners and company secretaries who are not directors do not need one.

Failing to obtain a director ID when required is an offence under the Corporations Act, and ASIC has prosecuted directors for it. The application is free and takes about fifteen minutes online, so there is no reason to be one of them.

Why the ATO keeps asking directors to confirm who they are

The director ID sits alongside a set of rules that make a company's tax debts a director's personal problem. A Director Penalty Notice makes unpaid PAYG withholding, superannuation guarantee and GST the director's own debt 21 days after the notice is served, and the ATO can only issue it to a director it can identify. If you are looking up your director ID because of a letter from the ATO, the number is the easy part; the 21 days are not, and what can be done inside them is set out plainly.

If the number was not the whole problem

Most people looking for their director ID in a hurry are lodging something — a new company, a change of officeholder, a document an accountant or a lender has asked for — and a good many are doing it because the ATO has written to them.

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Questions people ask alongside this one

What is a director ID?

A 15-digit number, beginning 036, that identifies you personally as a company director for life. It is issued once by Australian Business Registry Services and stays the same across every company you are ever a director of. It confirms that you are who you say you are, and it stops a name being used as a director without the person behind it.

Is a director ID the same as an ACN or ABN?

No. A director ID identifies a person. An ACN (nine digits) identifies a company and an ABN (eleven digits) identifies a business for tax and invoicing. A director of three companies has one director ID and the companies have three ACNs.

Can someone look up my director ID?

No. Director IDs are not on a public register. Your name and appointment appear on ASIC's public company records as they always have, but the number itself is disclosed only to the people and bodies that need it — the company's record-holder, ASIC, ABRS and the ATO.

Do I need a director ID if I am a sole trader?

No. A director ID is for directors of companies, corporate trustees (including the trustee company of a family trust or SMSF), registered Australian bodies and registered foreign companies. Sole traders, partners in a partnership and company secretaries who are not also directors do not need one.

I have been appointed a director and I do not have one. How fast can I get it?

The online application through myID and ABRS online takes around fifteen minutes and the number is usually issued on the screen immediately. You are meant to have it before you are appointed, so if the appointment has already happened, apply today rather than waiting for a reminder.

What happens if I never applied?

Failing to obtain a director ID when required is an offence under the Corporations Act, enforced by ASIC, and ASIC has fined directors for it. It is also practical: ASIC will not register a new company until every proposed director can supply one, and your accountant will ask for it the next time a company document needs lodging.

Can my accountant or tax agent apply for me?

No. Because the director ID confirms your identity, you must apply yourself. An agent can walk you through it and can hold the number on file once it is issued, but the myID and the application have to be yours.

I received a Director Penalty Notice. Does the director ID matter?

Only in that the ATO addresses a Director Penalty Notice to you as an identified director of the company. The notice itself is about the company's unpaid PAYG withholding, super or GST becoming your personal debt after 21 days, and the number is the least of your problems. Our director penalty notice page sets out what the 21 days mean and what can be done inside them.

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Reviewed by Jason Brockmuller, Joint Chief Executive