Commonwealth statutory declaration: form, witnesses and the myGov option

The Commonwealth declaration is made under the Statutory Declarations Act 1959. It is the version federal agencies such as Services Australia and the Australian Taxation Office normally want, and it is also the form used in the Australian Capital Territory.

It has the widest witness list of any Australian regime, which is why it is often the easiest to get witnessed. It is also the only one with a genuine no-witness digital path.

Checked 14 August 2026. We re-check this page every six months, and sooner if a witness list changes.

The official form

We link the form rather than hosting a copy. Forms get amended, and an old one can be refused after you have filled it in and had it witnessed. Take the current version from the government page.

Commonwealth form and guidance at ag.gov.au

To make it digitally instead, with no witness, use the myGov digital statutory declaration. We explain the limits of that route on the digital declarations page.

Three ways to make one

• On paper, witnessed in person. The traditional route. Print the form, fill it in, sign it in front of an approved witness.
• Electronically, witnessed by video link. You sign electronically and the witness observes over a video call. The Attorney-General's Department guidance is that the witness must actually see you sign, and that the witnessing and signing should be completed in one sitting rather than at different times.
• Digitally through myGov. No witness is required, but you need a Digital ID verified to the required strength.

All three are equally valid. The one you pick is usually driven by what you can access, not by which is better.

Who can witness it

An approved witness is prescribed under Schedule 1 of the Statutory Declarations Regulations 2023. They must hold the relevant registration or position at the time they witness your declaration. There are three groups:

• Licensed or registered occupations: architect, chiropractor, dentist, financial adviser, financial planner, legal practitioner, medical practitioner, midwife, migration agent, nurse, occupational therapist, optometrist, patent attorney, pharmacist, physiotherapist, psychologist, trade marks attorney, veterinary surgeon.
• Enrolled Australian legal practitioners, including those without a current practising certificate.
• Approved Australian positions, a long list that includes a Justice of the Peace, a Commissioner for Declarations, a Commissioner for Affidavits, a bailiff, a clerk of a court, a bank, building society or credit union officer with five or more years of continuous service, an Australia Post agent in charge of an office providing postal services to the public, an APS employee with five or more years of continuous service, and Australian consular and diplomatic officers.

The complete list is on the department's page, linked below. Compare it against the states on our cross-state comparison.

Where this comes from

Every rule on this page comes from the official source below. We link them rather than copy them, because a form or a witness list that is out of date is worse than no form at all. Check the source if anything here matters to your document.

• Attorney-General's Department, statutory declarations, the Commonwealth form and the three ways to make a declaration.
• Who can witness a Commonwealth statutory declaration, the complete approved witness list.
• Statutory Declarations Regulations 2023, the instrument prescribing the Schedule 1 witness list.
• myGov, Commonwealth statutory declarations, the digital, no-witness route and its Digital ID requirement.