Certified Copy of Client ID: Passports and Documents

A certified copy of ID is a copy an authorised person compares with the original and signs as accurate. A phone photo alone has no certification. For remote clients, certified copies are one identity-check option, alongside sighting originals or using an accepted electronic method.

What a Certified Copy of a Document is

A certified copy records that someone authorised to certify documents has compared the copy with the original. The certifier signs the copy and identifies their qualification. Certification establishes the match between documents. Your practice still needs to establish the client’s identity and any authority to act for another person.

A scan, photo or photocopy becomes a certified copy only after the required certification. Scanning an already certified paper copy preserves its certification if the whole document and endorsement remain readable.

Correct example: the client takes their original licence and a copy to an accepted certifier, then securely uploads the complete certified copy. Incorrect example: the client sends a cropped licence photo with their own note saying it is genuine.

Certified copies can help when an overseas or remote client cannot bring originals to your practice. For services covered by anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) obligations, your identity-check procedures determine which evidence you accept. A certified copy is not automatically required for every accounting client.

Include the document, accepted certifiers and return method in your new-client request. Record the check when you accept the evidence. The tax-agent client verification guide explains the wider identity and authority checks.

Who Can Certify Documents in Australia

The TPB’s certification guidance lists several people who can certify originals for tax-practitioner identity checks. You can direct clients to these certifiers:

• A justice of the peace (JP).
• A legal practitioner, such as a solicitor or barrister.
• A registered pharmacist.
• A police officer.
• An accountant with an eligible professional membership, including CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand or the Institute of Public Accountants.

The TPB also includes Association of Taxation and Management Accountants members and National Tax Accountants’ Association fellows. Being an accountant alone does not establish eligibility under that list.

A police officer’s certification role does not make them a notary public. Use a notary when the receiving authority specifically requires notarisation, particularly for overseas use. Ordinary copy certification and legalising a document for a foreign authority are different services.

The Commonwealth statutory-declaration witness list is in Schedule 1 of the Statutory Declarations Regulations 2023. The Attorney-General’s Department explains that list. It governs Commonwealth declarations, not every document a practice receives.

State rules and recipient requirements can differ. Western Australia’s copy-certification guidance describes customary use of its statutory-declaration witnesses rather than a universal copy-certification law. For your practice’s tax-client file, apply the TPB method and any separate rules for the service you provide.

Reject self-certification. Use an independent certifier where your receiving rules exclude relatives or conflicts. A blanket claim that family members can never witness any document is wrong: Commonwealth declarations allow an otherwise eligible family witness.

Certified True Copy Wording

The endorsement must identify the comparison with the original and the person who made it. A suitable request can ask the certifier to state that the copy accurately reproduces the original they sighted.

The Victorian Government’s certification instructions use the wording “certified to be a true copy of the original seen by me”. Those instructions also require the certifier’s signature and date, name, address and qualification.

Your request can set out the evidence you need:

• The certification statement and signature.
• The certifier’s printed name and qualifying occupation or appointment.
• The certification date.
• A professional address or other contact details plus a registration number where applicable.
• Every required page, with the certification and document details clearly readable.

A rubber stamp is optional. Buying a certified-copy stamp does not authorise someone to certify ID.

For multi-page documents, identify the total pages and keep them together. Victoria’s instructions require the certifier to sign or initial and number subsequent pages. Follow the applicable procedure instead of assuming a first-page stamp covers every attachment.

For a double-sided licence, request both sides and make clear that both must be compared with the original. Reject an upload that omits the reverse when it contains information needed for your check.

Certified Copy of Passport

A certified passport copy must reproduce the identification page clearly, with its certification attached to that copy. Ask the client to bring the original passport to the certifier and include the complete photo page.

Check the holder’s name and birth details against the client’s information. Inspect the photograph, document condition and expiry date. Apply the accepted document rules for your chosen method instead of treating a certification stamp as proof that an expired passport qualifies.

If your method requires a photo-to-person comparison by the certifier, request an additional statement confirming that the photograph matches the person presenting it. That statement requires the certifier to see the person. A true-copy endorsement alone does not say this comparison happened.

Some recipients require both statements. For example, Victoria’s guidance for health-practitioner documents explains a specific true-likeness requirement. Do not treat that recipient’s wording as a universal tax-practice rule.

For a client abroad, set out the accepted overseas certifier before they book an appointment. A local notary public can be appropriate where your receiving requirements allow one. Australian embassies, high commissions and consulates provide certification services for documents used in Australia, subject to their available services.

DFAT’s overseas certification instructions separate true-copy certification from photo certification. DFAT uses its own approved wording. Honorary consulates do not provide these notarial services, so direct the client to an office providing the required service.

Online JP and Remote Certification

An online JP appointment does not automatically allow certified copies by video. Remote witnessing of a signature and comparing a copy with an original are different tasks.

In NSW, government JP guidance allows video witnessing for some documents but expressly excludes copy certification by video or telephone. Do not send a NSW client to a video JP appointment for that purpose.

For another jurisdiction, accept video certification only under a procedure that authorises the particular certifier and document. Record the jurisdiction and the procedure used. Obtain the complete endorsed copy, certifier details and an explanation of how the original was compared. An appointment confirmation or a recording of someone holding up ID cannot fill a missing certification.

Your practice can also sight originals during a video appointment under the TPB’s remote-verification guidance. Record the method in the verification note. This is a practice identity check, separate from asking a JP to produce a certified copy.

Certification can require travel, an appointment and a document upload. An electronic identity check can remove the certifier appointment where the client’s documents and your accepted method support it. Actual completion depends on successful matching and any manual review. The digital ID guide explains that alternative without changing the certification rules.

Statutory Declaration Online

A statutory declaration records facts the client declares to be true. A certified copy records a comparison with an original. Declaring that a lost document once existed does not produce a certified copy of it.

A practice can request a declaration to explain missing conventional ID or a difference in names. Record the circumstances and supporting evidence in your assessment. Do not treat a declaration alone as an automatic substitute for a passport or name-change certificate under every identity method.

The Commonwealth statutory-declaration guidance allows in-person witnessing, video witnessing or a digital declaration through myGov. The digital method uses Digital Identity and needs no witness.

For a witnessed declaration, use the approved form and an eligible witness. Electronic signing is available under the Commonwealth method, including remote witnessing. State and territory declarations have their own requirements, so choose the form that applies to the request.

For a myGov declaration, retain the completed document rather than a screenshot of the client’s account. Its QR code lets you compare the received declaration with the verification information. The Department’s acceptance instructions explain that check.

Copies to Reject

Reject a copy when its certification or document content fails the requirements of the identity method you use. These faults need a replacement or further evidence:

• The certification has no signature or date.
• The certifier’s name or eligibility cannot be established.
• The stamp, photograph or document details are unreadable.
• A required page or side is missing.
• The client certifies their own ID.
• The copy is older than your documented acceptance policy allows.
• Names or other details conflict with the client’s information and remain unexplained.

Certification does not have one universal expiry period. Separate your practice’s recency policy from the underlying document’s expiry and any rules for the receiving service. Tell the client the applicable requirement in the first request.

To replace a rejected copy, identify the exact fault and ask only for the affected document. For a blurry stamp, request a clear scan of the complete certified copy. For missing certification, ask for a new properly certified copy. Keep other onboarding information moving while the identity item remains incomplete. Do not start a service whose identity requirements remain unmet.

Keep the verification record separately from the ID image. The TPB’s identity FAQs require check records for at least five years after the engagement ends. The TPB recommends against retaining ID copies and recommends destroying received copies after completing the check and contemporaneous record.

For AML/CTF work, apply the separate record requirements relevant to your designated service and customer relationship. The accountant KYC guide explains that boundary. A tax-agent file-note policy cannot override another applicable retention obligation.

While you hold copies, restrict access to staff who need them and use secure transfer and storage. Under OAIC security guidance, covered organisations must destroy or de-identify information no longer needed, subject to legal retention exceptions. Set the retention decision when you finish the check, so ID images do not accumulate indefinitely.