Fees for biosecurity entity registration and renewal

Who needs to pay registration and renewal fees

Registration and renewal fees apply if you meet the Australian Taxation Office ruling of carrying out the business of primary production (TR 97/11) as a result of owning the animals.

If you don't claim commercial primary producer status on your annual tax return, you must be registered as a biosecurity entity, but you don't need to pay the fee.

Keeping bees as well as livestock or birds

If you are a commercial primary producer of livestock or birds, and also keep beehives for commercial primary production, you must pay both the livestock fee and the beehive fee, but you only need to be registered as one biosecurity entity.

Fee exemption for flood affected commercial primary producers

A one-off exemption from paying their next biosecurity entity renewal fee has been granted to commercial primary producers affected by the February 2019 floods in North West Queensland.

This fee exemption applies to commercial primary producers with registrations due to expire between 30 June 2019 and 30 June 2020, if they keep their livestock on a property located wholly or partly in the following local government areas:

• Cloncurry
• McKinlay
• Richmond
• Flinders
• Winton
• Burke
• Carpentaria.

If you meet this criteria, your registration renewal date will be extended by 3 years (the length of a registration term) and you will be automatically granted a one-off fee exemption.

You still need to check and update your contact details.

• You can log in to your existing account to update your contact details.
• If you don't have an existing online account, you can activate your online account by checking if you're registered.
• If you need help updating your contact details, phone our Customer Service Centre on 13 25 23.

Find out how registration improves biosecurity in Queensland.

Paying the registration and renewal fees

You must pay the fee when you register and when you renew your registration every 3 years.

You can pay your renewal fee online by logging into your account on the biosecurity entity registration portal. If you don't already have an online account, you first need to check if you're registered as a biosecurity entity before you can get access to the portal. If you need help to check if you're registered and request access to your online account, phone our Customer Service Centre on 13 25 23.

View the current fees. Fees are subject to increases in-line with the consumer price index (CPI).

Cancelling your registration

There's no fee payable to cancel your registration. However, if you cancel part way through your registration term the remaining portion of your fee cannot be refunded.

Learn more about cancelling your biosecurity entity registration.

How registration fees are used

The biosecurity entity registration system provides private benefits for commercial primary producers, including:

• access to industry quality assurance programs
• improved market access
• lower biosecurity risk – registration enables us to better manage biosecurity risks.

Because the system also delivers public benefits and flow-on benefits to other industries, the Queensland Government subsidises 66% of the registration and renewal fees.

Biosecurity entity registration allows us to better:

• prepare for biosecurity emergencies
• respond to biosecurity risks
• trace the origin and spread of a pest or disease.

This makes it easier to, for example, contact cattle producers if there's a biosecurity event that could affect their industry.

Read more about how biosecurity entity registration improves biosecurity in Queensland.

The registration and renewal fees help deliver these benefits by contributing to the cost of:

• maintaining and administering the database of registered entities. This database integrates with the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) and Livestock Production Assurance (LPA), ensuring traceability of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs
• developing and maintaining an online portal for customers to access and manage their registration and renewal details.