The short answer
Each report answers a different question. A suspicious matter report (SMR) asks whether you have formed a suspicion on reasonable grounds. A threshold transaction report (TTR) asks whether you received or paid $10,000 or more in notes and coins. An international funds transfer instruction (IFTI) report asks whether you sent or received an instruction to move money or property across the border.
They are independent. A transaction can raise none, one or more than one. This page compares the triggers. The guide for each report covers how to prepare it.
Sources: AUSTRAC: When you must submit an SMR; When SMR obligations apply; AUSTRAC: When to submit; When a transaction involves the transfer of physical currency; Submission deadlines; AUSTRAC: Introduction; IFTI-E; IFTI-DRA.
- SMR
Trigger: a suspicion on reasonable grounds, at any amount. Timing: 24 hours for terrorism financing, otherwise 3 business days after the day it formed.
- TTR
Trigger: you receive or pay $10,000 or more in notes and coins. Timing: 10 business days after the day of the transaction.
- IFTI
Trigger: you send or receive an instruction to move money or property into or out of Australia. Timing: 10 business days.
Three reports, three triggers
Summary of AUSTRAC guidance. Exemptions, privilege and transitional rules can change the answer for a particular business.
Separate evidence questions. An answer to one does not settle the others.
SMR: a suspicion, at any amount
AUSTRAC says a business submits an SMR if it suspects on reasonable grounds that information it has may be relevant to crime, that a customer, future customer or their agent is not who they claim to be, or that a person is planning a money laundering or terrorism financing offence using a designated service. There is no dollar threshold.
The obligation can apply before any service is provided. AUSTRAC says it applies when you start or propose to provide a designated service, or someone asks for one, even if you do not go ahead.
Timing is short. AUSTRAC gives 24 hours from forming the suspicion if it relates to terrorism financing, and 3 business days after the day the suspicion was formed otherwise. Where the SMR includes information claimed to be protected by legal professional privilege, AUSTRAC gives up to 5 business days after the day the suspicion was formed, unless it relates to terrorism financing. AUSTRAC also says no SMR is submitted where all the information about the suspicion is claimed as privileged.
Sources: AUSTRAC: When you must submit an SMR; When SMR obligations apply; AUSTRAC: When you don’t need to submit an SMR; Submission deadlines.
TTR: $10,000 or more in physical cash
AUSTRAC says a business submits a TTR if it provides a designated service involving the transfer of $10,000 or more in physical currency, meaning notes and coins, or the foreign currency equivalent. It covers both receiving and paying. The period is 10 business days after the day the transaction takes place.
A TTR arises only where the business itself receives or pays the notes or coins. AUSTRAC says electronic transfers, cheques and card payments do not trigger a TTR at any amount. In its example, a customer who deposits cash at a bank into a dealer’s account creates a TTR for the bank, not the dealer.
Each cash transaction is looked at separately. AUSTRAC says you do not combine separate transactions to reach the threshold. If you have reasonable grounds to suspect a customer is splitting payments to avoid a TTR, that is an SMR question.
Sources: AUSTRAC: When to submit; When a transaction involves the transfer of physical currency; Submission deadlines; AUSTRAC: Multiple physical currency transactions; Structuring.
IFTI: an instruction that crosses the border
AUSTRAC describes an IFTI as an instruction accepted in Australia for money or property to be made available in another country, or accepted overseas for it to be made available in Australia. A business that sends one out of Australia or receives one into Australia reports it within 10 business days.
AUSTRAC describes two report types: one for financial institutions transferring money, and one for remittance service providers, casinos and other entities that are not financial institutions. A professional practice or agency whose client pays through a bank may not be the one sending or receiving the instruction, but this depends on the services the business provides.
IFTI reporting is in transition. AUSTRAC says the AML/CTF Transitional Rules 2026 preserve the earlier IFTI requirements until a business’s international value transfer service reporting transition date, which will be on or after 31 March 2029.
When more than one applies
A cash payment of $10,000 or more that also looks suspicious can raise both a TTR and an SMR. They have different deadlines, so the SMR may fall due first.
A payment kept just under $10,000 raises no TTR. If the business suspects on reasonable grounds that it was arranged that way to avoid one, AUSTRAC says an SMR is submitted.
Sources: AUSTRAC: Multiple physical currency transactions; Structuring; AUSTRAC: When you don’t need to submit an SMR; Submission deadlines.
Invented example: a deposit in six parts
A fictional real estate agency is asked by a buyer whether a $50,000 deposit can be paid in cash as five payments of $9,000 and one of $5,000. The buyer gives no reason when asked.
No single payment would reach the TTR threshold. The agent might record the request and the response, and refer it under the agency’s procedure to decide whether there are reasonable grounds for an SMR. The scenario follows an AUSTRAC example, in which the agent decides there are reasonable grounds to suspect structuring and submits an SMR. The steps here are suggestions and do not decide the agency’s obligations.