AU Entity Intelligence API Reference

Base URL: https://api.techcompass.com.au — Status: Live, May 2026 — See main reference for authentication details.

About this Dataset

The AU Entity Intelligence API combines two authoritative Australian government registers to deliver entity verification, company status checking, and KYC risk signals for any Australian business in a single API call.

Australian Business Register (ABR)

The ABR is maintained by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and is the single authoritative source for Australian Business Number (ABN) data. It covers every entity — companies, trusts, partnerships, sole traders, and government bodies — that holds an ABN.

Each ABN record includes: entity type, GST registration status, registered trading names, state/postcode, and ABN history. Tech Compass refreshes ABR data hourly via the ABR Web Services API under authorisation ABNL27735.

Licensing: Commercial redistribution permitted under Australian Government Linked Data licence.

ASIC Company Register

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) maintains the legal register of all companies incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001. It is the authoritative source for a company’s legal status, ACN, registered address, company type (Pty Ltd, Ltd, etc.), and deregistration or strike-off status.

Tech Compass ingests the full ASIC Company Register bulk dataset — over 4 million current and historical records — updated weekly every Tuesday. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU via data.gov.au.

Combined KYC Signals

Every ABN lookup returns a kyc block that cross-references ABR and ASIC records to produce a composite risk score. Signals flag: entities in external administration, companies with strike-off pending, ABN/ASIC status mismatches, and non-active entities with active ABNs. These signals reduce manual review time for KYC, AML, and supplier onboarding workflows.

Use Cases

• Automated supplier onboarding — verify ABN, GST status, and legal entity name before payment
• AML/CTF customer due diligence — confirm entity is a registered legal person
• Credit risk assessment — flag entities in administration or with strike-off pending
• Beneficial ownership research — retrieve ACN and cross-reference ASIC officer records
• Portfolio monitoring — detect status changes across a watchlist of entities

Authentication

All AU endpoints require an API key with the au_entity product scope:

Authorization: ApiKey tc_live_<your_key>

Obtain a key at signup. Keys without au_entity scope receive HTTP 403.

Response Structure

AU endpoints return the standard envelope with additional AU-specific data_lineage fields:

{
  "data": { ... },
  "kyc": {
    "overall_risk": "LOW",
    "is_active_legal_entity": true,
    "in_external_administration": false,
    "strike_off_pending": false,
    "is_gst_registered": true,
    "abn_asic_mismatch": false,
    "flags": null
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "a1b2c3d4-...",
    "timestamp": "2026-05-10T00:30:00Z"
  },
  "data_lineage": {
    "source": "ABR Lookup Web Services",
    "source_url": "https://abr.business.gov.au/json/AbnDetails.aspx",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-05-10T00:30:00Z",
    "request_id": "a1b2c3d4-...",
    "license": "ABR Web Services Agreement — ref ABNL27735. Commercial redistribution permitted.",
    "source_asic_snapshot_date": "2026-05-06"
  }
}

Endpoints

GET /v1/au/abr/{abn}

Look up an Australian Business Number. Returns ABR entity data, KYC signals, and the paired ASIC company record if available.

curl https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/au/abr/31632578342 \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY"

{
  "data": {
    "abn": "31632578342",
    "abn_status": "Active",
    "abn_status_effective_from": "2019-03-28",
    "registered_name": "TECH COMPASS PTY LTD",
    "entity_type_code": "PRV",
    "entity_type_description": "Australian Private Company",
    "business_names": [
      { "name": "valkurai", "effective_from": "", "effective_to": "" }
    ],
    "gst_registered": true,
    "gst_effective_from": "2019-03-28",
    "state": "VIC",
    "postcode": "3032",
    "acn": "632578342"
  },
  "kyc": {
    "overall_risk": "LOW",
    "is_active_legal_entity": true,
    "in_external_administration": false,
    "strike_off_pending": false,
    "is_gst_registered": true,
    "abn_asic_mismatch": false,
    "flags": null
  },
  "meta": { "request_id": "...", "timestamp": "2026-05-10T00:30:00Z" },
  "data_lineage": {
    "source": "ABR Lookup Web Services",
    "source_url": "https://abr.business.gov.au/json/AbnDetails.aspx",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-05-10T00:30:00Z",
    "request_id": "...",
    "license": "ABR Web Services Agreement — ref ABNL27735."
  }
}

Errors: 401, 404, 422, 429, 503

GET /v1/au/asic/{acn}

Look up a company by Australian Company Number (ACN). Returns ASIC register data and KYC signals.

curl https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/au/asic/632578342 \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY"

Errors: 401, 404, 422, 429

GET /v1/au/entity/search

Search by company name, ABN (11 digits), or ACN (9 digits). Returns up to 20 matching entities.

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/au/entity/search?q=tech+compass" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY"

Errors: 401, 422, 429, 503

KYC Signals

Every response includes a kyc block. Risk is determined by combining ABR entity status and ASIC company register data.

Risk Determination Rules

Error Codes

Data Freshness

ABR data is refreshed hourly via our pipeline. On-demand lookups fetch live data from ABR and cache it. The data_lineage.retrieved_at timestamp shows when the record was last fetched from ABR.

ASIC company register data is sourced from the ASIC snapshot pipeline. The data_lineage.source_asic_snapshot_date field shows the date of the ASIC snapshot used.

Data Sources