Information for recipients

We have updated this page after changes to the Electoral Act 2002. These changes refer to rules about funding and donation disclosure.

Read this information carefully. Your legal duties have changed under the new laws.

On this page:

Who can be a recipient

Registered officers and agents
Where should donation funds be deposited
Who can make political donations
Donation limits
New entrants
Banned donations
Disclosing donations
What information do I need to disclose
Associated entities and third-party campaigners
Do all donations need to be disclosed
What amount do I need to disclose
When do I disclose the donation as being received
Can I disclose donations even if I do not have to
What do I need to give to donors
Can I return a donation that is banned
Penalties
Make a disclosure

Who can be a recipient?

Donation recipients are:

registered political parties, including their endorsed candidates and elected members
independent candidates
groups of candidates in Legislative Council region elections
independent members of Parliament
associated entities operating in Victoria
third-party campaigners operating in Victoria.

Registered officers and agents

The registered agent manages your funding and disclosure obligations.
The registered officer for a registered political party is the registered agent.

Independent candidates and elected members are the agent by default and can register someone else to be the agent.

Find out more about agents

Where should donation funds be deposited?

The registered agent manages your funding and disclosure obligations.

You must deposit all political donations into your state campaign account. This is a separate financial account all recipients must set up with an authorised deposit-taking institute (a bank, building or credit society).

Who can make political donations?

Donations can be made by any:

Australian citizen
Australian resident
organisation with a registered business number such as an Australian Business Number (ABN).

Related bodies corporate count as one donor under donation laws. This includes the general cap. Two or more corporate entities in the same organisational or corporate structure have a shared general cap.

You can only accept donations from:

Australian citizens
Australian residents
Australian businesses with an Australian Business Number (ABN).

Donation limits

You cannot receive donations of more than the general cap from any single donor in the period 15 April to 28 November 2026.

A registered political party, its endorsed candidates and elected members are the same recipient for the purposes of the general cap. This means you cannot donate more than the general cap in total to candidates or elected members from the same party between 15 April and 28 November 2026.

The same rule applies to members of a group of independent Legislative Council (upper house) candidates.

The general cap amount is indexed on 1 July each year. Our indexation page has more information.

You must disclose and forfeit any donations you receive over the general cap to the VEC. This will also impact your public funding entitlement.

New entrants

The one exception to the cap applies to registered new entrants.

They must:

be approved by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC)
stay registered until after election day.

Registered new entrants can receive up to double the general cap from one donor.

Banned donations

Foreign donations of any amount and anonymous donations equal to or above the disclosure threshold are prohibited by law.

All foreign donations or anonymous donations equal to or above the disclosure threshold, must be disclosed and forfeited to the VEC. This will also impact your public funding entitlement.

Donations can only be made by:

Australian citizens
Australian residents
Australian businesses with an Australian Business Number (ABN).

Disclosing donations

You must tell us about any donation you have received equal to or more than the disclosure threshold. You must do this on VEC Disclosures within 21 days of receiving the donation.

Disclose a political donation

What information do I need to disclose?

You must provide the:

date you received the donation
type of donation (for example money, service, loan, guarantee, property)
amount of the donation.

We may also ask for evidence of the donation.

You must notify the donor that they need to disclose their donations if the total amount they pay to you meets or exceeds the disclosure threshold in a financial year.

Donations you have received that are under the disclosure threshold do not need to be disclosed to us.

Associated entities and third-party campaigners

Not all gifts to associated entities or third-party campaigners are political donations. Gifts that are not donations are not intended to enable the entity to make political donations or incur political expenditure. Gifts that are not donations do not need to be disclosed to us, regardless of the value of the gift.

Do all donations need to be disclosed?

No. You do not need to disclose if you receive donations under the disclosure threshold.

You do not need to disclose donations of $100 or less.

It is an offence for multiple small donations to be made to avoid disclosure or to avoid the general cap.

What amount do I need to disclose?

The amount disclosed as a political donation must be the full amount paid by a donor. Any costs incurred by the recipient to facilitate the donation, such as venue hire, catering and tax matters (including GST) are matters for the recipient. These expenses must not be deducted from the disclosed amount of a political donation.

When do I disclose the donation as being received?

A donation is received when the donation is paid by a donor into your state campaign account or you otherwise have access to the donation.

For example, if you use a third-party booking site or platform, the date you receive the donation is the date the third party collects the donation on your behalf even if you do not withdraw these funds until a later time.

Can I disclose donations even if I do not have to?

There are no laws that say you cannot over-disclose. However, only donations that legally must be disclosed to us will be published on VEC Disclosures.

What do I need to give to donors?

You should provide your donors with a receipt that clearly states the donation amount. If the total consists of multiple items, each item should be listed separately on the receipt.

You must tell your donors about their obligation to disclose their donation. We recommend including this information on receipts issued to donors and any websites you use to collect political donations.

Donors must disclose their donation if:

the individual donation is equal to or more than the disclosure threshold
the total value of multiple donations to a single recipient in a financial year meets or exceeds the disclosure threshold
they make more donations to a recipient after the donation threshold has been met in one financial year (each donation before or after reaching the threshold must be disclosed).

Can I return a donation that is banned?

If you accept a banned donation, it must be forfeited to us and cannot be returned to the donor. You are considered to have accepted a donation if you:

disclose or reconcile the donation in VEC Disclosures
fail to refund the donor the amount over the cap in a reasonable timeframe.

If you do not take immediate action to reject an unlawful donation once it is identified, your legal obligations apply as if you accepted the donation. For donations made electronically, you may need to contact your bank or payment gateway to help you process the refund.

Some exceptions apply. For example, if you receive multiple donations from one donor and could not have reasonably known the total of these donations exceeded the general cap, you can return the amount above the general cap to the donor.

Contact us at disclosures@vec.vic.gov.au to discuss your situation and make a plan to forfeit a banned donation.

Penalties

There are fines or possible prison terms for recipients who do not comply with political donation laws. This is in addition to other penalties including the forfeiture of prohibited donations that are accepted.

All fine amounts are indexed annually. Learn more about indexation.

Action	Consequences
Not disclosing a donation of or above the disclosure threshold within 21 days of receiving the donation.	200 penalty units
Knowingly accepting a banned donation. Banned donations are: foreign donations donations above the general cap anonymous donations equal to or more than the disclosure threshold.	You must give up any of these donations to the state. The fine is 300 penalty units or up to 2 years' prison time.
Planning or acting out a scheme to avoid prohibited donations laws.	Up to 10 years' prison time.
Giving false or misleading information about a donation.	300 penalty units and up to 2 years' prison time.
Not keeping evidence of a donation (for example a receipt) for at least 4 years after the donation.	200 penalty units

Make a disclosure

To disclose a political donation or view existing donations, visit VEC Disclosures.