INSIGHT · CONTRACTS & PAYMENTS
Trust accounts stopped at $10 million.
Each contract still carries its own answer.
As read on 28 September 2026, Queensland's Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 makes a contract eligible for a project trust where more than 50% of the price is project trust work and the contract price, excluding goods and services tax (GST), is $1 million or more for the State or a Hospital and Health Service, or $10 million or more otherwise. A trust is required once a subcontract is entered into, unless an exemption applies. Planned drops to $3 million (1 March 2025) and $1 million (1 October 2025) were paused. Retention trusts follow the project trust.
Analysed 28 September 2026 · Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) pause notice published 10 February 2025 · Act reprint current from 28 April 2026 · QBCC Building Reg Reno page last reviewed 23 November 2025 · Queensland Government response to the Queensland Productivity Commission final report (2026) · all pages read 28 September 2026.
Key takeaways
- Two thresholds, set by who the contracting party is: The Act as in force states $1 million or more where the contracting party is the State or a Hospital and Health Service, and $10 million or more otherwise, with more than 50% of the contract price for project trust work. A State authority can opt in at $1 million. A project trust is required once the contracted party subcontracts all or part of the work, unless an exemption applies.
- Retention trusts ride on the project trust: The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) states a retention trust account is needed where the project requires a project trust account, cash retentions are held, and the party holding them is a head contractor or a principal. Government contracting parties are exempt. Where each company in a group withholds eligible cash retentions, the QBCC states each needs its own.
- What was paused, and when: On 10 February 2025 the Queensland Government announced the Building Reg Reno. The QBCC states that phases planned for 1 March 2025 ($3 million) and 1 October 2025 ($1 million) have been paused and "will not occur", and that further changes are earmarked for Tranche 4. The QBCC page gives no date for Tranche 4.
- The paused thresholds are still written into the Act: Chapter 9, part 1, divisions 3 and 4 of the Act contain the $3 million and $1 million amendments, and section 2 states those divisions commence on a day to be fixed by proclamation. The section 14 in force still reads $10 million.
- We would store the inputs, not the answer: Eligibility is tested when each contract is entered into, and re-tested on some amendments. We would hold the entered-into date, contracting party type, contract price excluding goods and services tax, project trust work share, amendment history and links to related contracts as fields per contract, per entity. That is a system-design recommendation, not advice on any contract.
What applies today
Section 14 of the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017, in the reprint current from 28 April 2026, sets eligibility by contracting party and contract price, and states that it "applies to a contract at the time the contract is entered into." Section 9 states that an amount for GST (goods and services tax) is not included when working out contract price.
| Contracting party | Contract price (excluding GST) | Other conditions in s 14 |
|---|---|---|
| The State, or a Hospital and Health Service | $1 million or more | More than 50% of the contract price is for project trust work |
| A State authority that has decided a project trust is to be established | $1 million or more | More than 50% of the contract price is for project trust work |
| A State authority, local government, individual or private entity (otherwise) | $10 million or more | More than 50% of the contract price is for project trust work |
- Eligible is not the same as required: Section 12 requires a project trust where the contract is eligible, is not exempted, and the contracted party enters into a subcontract for all or part of the contracted work. The requirement then continues until the trust is dissolved, regardless of a variation, a change in contract price or a change in the contracted work.
- The exemptions the QBCC lists: The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) lists contracts for small-scale residential construction work for 1 or 2 living units, contracts solely for maintenance work, contracts between the State and a state authority, contracts solely for professional design, advisory or contract administration work, contracts for work to be completed in less than 90 days, and subcontracts unless the parties are related entities.
- Residential contracts from three units are assessed: The QBCC's rollout page states that private sector building contracts entered into from 1 January 2022 need to be assessed against the criteria, and that "This includes residential building contracts for 3 or more living units."
Retention trusts follow
the project trust.
A retention trust account holds cash retentions until they are due to be paid. The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) states that a contracting party is required to have one if the project requires a project trust account, the party is holding cash retentions against a contracted party, and the party is a head contractor or a principal.
- Who is exempt: The QBCC states that if the party withholding the retention amount is the Queensland state government, a state authority, the Commonwealth government or a local government, they are not required to have a retention trust account.
- Which contracts are withholding contracts today: Section 32 of the Act defines a withholding contract as a project trust contract that is a head contract or a subcontract eligible under section 14C (related entities) or 14D (prescribed contracts), or a project trust subcontract for such a contract. Section 9A describes a project trust subcontract as, among other conditions, a first tier subcontract.
- One account per contracting party, not per group: The QBCC states that one retention trust account can be used across multiple projects, but where a director runs two companies that each withhold eligible cash retentions, "Each contracting party (in this case, each company) must have its own retention trust account."
- The account comes before the withholding: Section 34 requires the contracting party to open the retention trust account before the retention amount is withheld, where the contract is already a withholding contract at that time.
What was paused, and when
The framework has moved in dated steps.
The ministerial statement of 10 February 2025 also stated that security of payment would be considered by the Queensland Productivity Commission (QPC) as part of its construction review. The Government's published response to Recommendation 43 "notes" it, states that work is underway to reduce the regulatory and administrative burdens of the trust account requirements on trustees, and records that the further roll out "has been paused".
| Date | What the publisher states |
|---|---|
| 1 March 2021 | Trust account framework commenced under the Act (QBCC trust accounts page) |
| 1 January 2022 | Private, local government and state authority contracts of $10 million or more brought in (QBCC rollout page) |
| 1 July 2024 | Amendments commenced; retention trust training and auditor account review reports no longer required (QBCC) |
| 10 February 2025 | Building Reg Reno announced; rollout of new project trust accounts on projects under $10 million paused (ministerial statement) |
| 1 March 2025 | Planned phase for eligible contracts of $3 million or more: paused, "will not occur" (QBCC) |
| 1 October 2025 | Planned phase for eligible contracts of $1 million: paused, "will not occur" (QBCC) |
| 21 January 2026 | QPC final report on construction productivity released; Recommendation 43 addresses the trust account framework (QPC) |
| 1 February 2026 | Tranche 3 of the Building Reg Reno rolled out, with no change to trust account phases already implemented (QBCC) |
The lower thresholds are written,
not commenced.
A pause is easy to read as a deletion. The Act's own text shows something narrower. Chapter 9, part 1 contains two divisions of amendments that sit in the Act but are not in force. Section 2 states that chapter 9, part 1, divisions 1 to 4 "commence on a day to be fixed by proclamation", and the reprint's status note states that some, but not all, of the provisions displayed have commenced.
- Division 3: $10 million becomes $3 million: Section 216 would omit "$10 million" from section 14(1)(c)(ii) and insert "$3 million".
- Division 4: $1 million for most contracts: Section 217 would replace section 14 so that a contract is eligible if, when it is entered into, more than 50% of the contract price is for project trust work and the contract price is $1 million or more, without the contracting-party distinction.
- Division 4 also reaches further down the chain: Section 218 would extend the definition of withholding contract to include "any other subcontract for subcontracting work that contributes to the performance of a project trust contract."
- What that means for a record: Both the current and the replacement section 14 test eligibility at the time a contract is entered into. We have not read any transitional provision for these divisions and do not state how contracts either side of a commencement would be treated.
- The explanatory pages carry their own dates: The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) page on planning a trust account, last reviewed 28 January 2024, frames the $10 million test as applying "for contracts that start between 1 January 2022 and 31 March 2023" and says each nominated retention trust administrator must complete retention trust training. The QBCC training page, last reviewed 1 July 2024, states that "Trustees are no longer required to complete retention trust training".
Why the answer belongs to the contract,
not the company.
A business does not "have" trust obligations. Each contract does, or does not, and the Act and the regulator's guidance compute that from inputs that live in different places: who the contracting party is, the price and its project trust work share on the day of signing, whether a subcontract has been let, whether an exemption applies, and what has changed since. A multi-entity group can hold contracts on both sides of each line at once.
- Amendments are measured against the original: Section 14A makes a contract that was not eligible when entered into become eligible on amendment where it would have been eligible in its amended form and the amendment increases the original contract price, or the original project trust work percentage, by 30% or more. The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) states the amended contract "must be reassessed against the project trust criteria that applied when the contract was entered into."
- Several contracts can count as one: The QBCC states that multiple contracts between the same parties on the same or adjacent sites are assessed as a single contract, with the threshold applied to the combined value. Where the contracting parties differ for each build, each contract is assessed on its own.
- Related entities carry the obligation down: The QBCC states that if a head contractor requires a project trust account and engages a related entity subcontractor, that subcontractor also requires one if it further subcontracts work.
- An illustration, not a determination: Take a hypothetical group: entity A is head contractor on a $14 million private apartment contract, entity B on a $6 million private townhouse contract, entity C on a $2.5 million Queensland Government contract, entity D on a duplex. On the published thresholds A and C sit at or above their party's line, B sits below the private one, and D's contract would need to be tested against the listed exemption for 1 or 2 living units. Whether any of them actually requires a trust still turns on project trust work share, subcontracting, exemptions and aggregation.
What we would put in a system
Where agents help is narrow. An agent can read a head contract, variation or subcontract, extract the parties, dates, price and scope, draft the fields, and flag contracts that look linked or that crossed a 30% change, and a person confirms each field. No agent decides whether a contract is eligible, exempt or requires a trust account. That is for the business and its advisers, with the QBCC as regulator.
| Field | Why it is load-bearing |
|---|---|
| Date the contract was entered into | Section 14 applies at that time, and the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) reassesses amendments against the criteria that applied then. Phase boundaries such as 1 March 2021 and 1 January 2022 are dates. |
| Contracting party type, and which group entity is on each side | The threshold is $1 million or $10 million depending on who the contracting party is, and retention trust exemptions turn on the withholding party. Where each withholds eligible cash retentions, the QBCC states each company needs its own retention trust account. |
| Contract price excluding goods and services tax (GST) and project trust work share, at entry | The two numeric tests. Stored as at signing, not as at today, because section 14A measures amendments against the original price and percentage. |
| Amendment history and linked contracts | Each variation with its price effect, so the 30% tests can be shown; links to other contracts between the same parties on the same or adjacent sites, and to related entity subcontracts. |
| Trust status record with its source | Project and retention trust account references, the dates notices were given, and the Act reprint or regulator page relied on, with the date it was read. |
- Group Finance & PM Platform: Holds the contract fields per entity, so a group can see which contracts sit either side of each threshold.
- Finance & Cashflow Agent: Drafts cash position views from group finance data; a person reviews before anything is relied on.
- Variation & Claims Agent: Extracts each variation's price effect so the original-versus-amended comparison is on record; a person confirms.
- Construction groups: Why multi-entity groups carry obligations contract by contract rather than company by company.
- A subcontractor's licence in SA is now a dated check, not a belief: South Australia's 2026 penalties make a subcontractor's licence on the day of engagement something to be able to show.
Questions worth asking
of your own contract records
For a head contractor: for each live Queensland contract, can you show the date it was entered into and the contract price excluding GST on that day?
Those are two of the inputs section 14 reads at the moment of signing. If the current system holds only today's revised price, the original has to be reconstructed from the contract file.
For a multi-entity group: which entity is the contracting or contracted party on each contract, and does each entity that withholds cash retentions hold its own retention trust account?
The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) answer on two companies with one director is that each company needs its own account. A group-level view that does not separate entities cannot show that.
For a project or commercial manager: which contracts have had variations that moved the price, or the project trust work share, by 30% or more from the original?
Section 14A uses the original contract as the base. A running total of approved variations against the original price is the record that answers it.
For a trade subcontractor: do you know which of your subcontracts sit under a head contract with a project trust, and whether retentions withheld from you are held in a retention trust?
Under section 32 as in force, retention trusts attach to withholding contracts linked to a project trust contract. The trust notices the QBCC describes are how a subcontractor would be told.
For anyone keeping a compliance checklist: where did your threshold come from, and on what date was it read?
The regulator's pages carry different review dates, and the Act holds uncommenced amendments. A threshold stored with its source and read date can be re-checked; a bare number cannot.
What this analysis
does and does not show.
Evidence note
- What it shows
- Which Queensland contracts are eligible for a project trust as the Act reads in the reprint current from 28 April 2026, when a retention trust follows, what was paused on 10 February 2025 and which planned phases did not proceed, and that the lower thresholds remain in the Act's uncommenced text. Read on 28 September 2026 from the Queensland legislation register, Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) pages, a ministerial statement, the Queensland Productivity Commission (QPC) and Queensland Treasury.
- Key facts quoted
- $1 million or more for the State or a Hospital and Health Service; $10 million or more otherwise; more than 50% project trust work; contract price excludes goods and services tax; 30% amendment tests; planned 1 March 2025 ($3 million) and 1 October 2025 ($1 million) phases paused; Building Reg Reno announced 10 February 2025; QPC final report released 21 January 2026; chapter 9, part 1, divisions 1 to 4 commence by proclamation.
- Queensland only. Other states run different security of payment regimes, and a group working across borders holds contracts under several at once.
- We read the Act's current reprint but not its transitional provisions for the uncommenced divisions, nor the Regulation's provisions on minimum contract price for retention trusts. We make no statement about how a future commencement would treat existing contracts.
- The Department of Housing and Public Works pages on retention requirements, the trust account framework and the Building Reg Reno returned an automated security challenge and could not be read. Anything those pages say about Tranche 4 is not reflected here.
- Several QBCC pages were last reviewed between 2021 and 2024. Where they differ from the Act as in force, we report the Act and describe the page as dated.
- We did not establish when the Government's response to the QPC was released; the document is a 2026 Queensland Treasury publication, listed on a page last updated 4 September 2026.
- Nothing here is legal, financial or accounting advice, and nothing determines whether any contract is eligible, exempt or requires a trust account.
What to watch next
The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) states that further trust account changes are earmarked for Tranche 4 of the Building Reg Reno and that it will provide further information once available; its page gives no date. The Act reprint read on 28 September 2026 shows no commencement for the uncommenced divisions.
- 1 September 2028: The Queensland legislation register states that the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Regulation 2018, which prescribes the information required in trust account notices and what counts as project trust work, expires on this date under the Statutory Instruments Act 1992, section 54.
Bring us your Queensland contract register.
Tell us which entity holds each contract, when it was signed, its price on that day and what has been varied since. We will show you which of those inputs your records can already produce and which would have to be rebuilt from the contract files.
General information about published Queensland legislation and regulator guidance, as read on 28 September 2026. It is not legal, financial or accounting advice, and it does not determine whether any contract is eligible for, exempt from or requires a project trust or retention trust. Queensland only.
Sources
Suggested citation: Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld), reprint current from 28 April 2026, and Queensland Building and Construction Commission trust account pages, as read 28 September 2026. No figure is derived; the multi-entity example is hypothetical and illustrative.
- Queensland Legislation - Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017: Reprint current from 28 April 2026 · read 28 September 2026 · Legislation register - Act in force, sections 2, 9, 12, 14, 14A, 32, 34, 216 to 218
- QBCC - Pausing the further rollout of trust accounts: Published 10 February 2025 · read 28 September 2026 · Building regulator - news
- QBCC - Deconstructing the Building Reg Reno: Last reviewed 23 November 2025 · read 28 September 2026 · Building regulator - reform explainer
- QBCC - Planning a trust account: Last reviewed 28 January 2024 · read 28 September 2026 · Building regulator - guidance
- QBCC - Trust account rollout: Last reviewed 16 May 2022 · read 28 September 2026 · Building regulator - guidance and FAQs
- QBCC - Trust accounts: Last reviewed 31 August 2021 · read 28 September 2026 · Building regulator - overview
- QBCC - Required trust notices: Last reviewed 10 September 2021 · read 28 September 2026 · Building regulator - guidance
- QBCC - Retention trust training: Last reviewed 1 July 2024 · read 28 September 2026 · Building regulator - guidance
- QBCC - What's changed in the BIFOLA Act?: Last reviewed 1 July 2024 · read 28 September 2026 · Building regulator - news
- Queensland Government - Building Reg Reno making it easier to build in Queensland: Published 10 February 2025 · read 28 September 2026 · Ministerial media statement
- Queensland Productivity Commission - Opportunities to improve productivity of the construction industry: Final report released 21 January 2026 · read 28 September 2026 · Inquiry page and final report
- Queensland Treasury - Government response to the QPC final report on construction productivity: 2026 publication, listed on a page last updated 4 September 2026 · read 28 September 2026 · Government response, Recommendation 43
- Queensland Legislation - Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Regulation 2018: Reprint current from 1 July 2025 · read 28 September 2026 · Legislation register - status information (expiry)