Digital Commonwealth statutory declarations

You can now make Commonwealth statutory declarations (also known as stat decs) digitally through your myGov account.

If you do not have a myGov account and want to create one, see create a myGov account.

To create a digital Commonwealth statutory declaration without a witness you must have a Digital Identity connected to your myGov account. Your Digital Identity also needs to be at least standard digital identity strength.

Access myGov to create a digital Commonwealth statutory declaration

Other options to complete a Commonwealth statutory declaration are still available if you do not have a myGov account with Digital Identity connected to it or would prefer not to use it. You can still make a Commonwealth statutory declaration using a witness, just as you did before.

Fraud and privacy protections

Both the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 and Statutory Declarations Regulations 2023 apply strict requirements for fraud and privacy protections to approved online platforms and digital service providers.

For example:

  • Before they are approved, providers must demonstrate their compliance and accreditation under the Commonwealth digital identity accreditation framework – the Trusted Digital Identity Framework (TDIF). It contains strict rules and standards for usability, accessibility, privacy protection, security, risk management, fraud control and more.
  • The Act does not allow an approved online platform to save any copies of Commonwealth statutory declarations made using the platform.

Find other standards and requirements under the Act and the Regulations.

Checks to verify digital statutory declarations

To ensure that digital Commonwealth statutory declarations are genuine and unaltered, the Statutory Declarations Regulations 2023 require that they must contain certain information.

If you have created a digital Commonwealth statutory declaration using myGov, it will have a QR code. The QR code is encrypted with the information provided in the declaration.

To verify the authenticity of the declaration, anyone with a paper or digital copy of the declaration can scan the QR code with the myGov app. They can then compare the text and details on the QR code page with the declaration.

The information displayed through the QR code is not stored on myGov. Instead, it's saved on the QR code itself. myGov retains only the additional information (the key) that is used to decode the information from its encrypted form into readable text.

Find out more about myGov QR codes.

If you have concerns about false information in a statutory declaration, see Concerns of false information, fraud or incorrectly-made Commonwealth statutory declarations.

Fees for digital Commonwealth statutory declarations

The Statutory Declarations Act 1959 does not prohibit an online platform from charging a fee to use a statutory declaration signing platform. However, there are currently no fees associated with using myGov or myGov ID to create a digital Commonwealth statutory declaration.