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Council registration due dates, by state
Every dog and cat in Australia has to be registered with a council, and almost nothing else about it is the same twice. Victoria renews on one date for the whole state. New South Wales never renews at all. Queensland leaves the date — and the registration year itself — to 77 different councils. Pick a state and this tells you which of those you are in, what you need, what it costs, and what happens if it lapses.
No account, no email, nothing sent anywhere.
There are three kinds of deadline in this country, not one
Most advice about pet registration writes as though Australia has a renewal date. It has three different answers, and which one applies to you is a function of which parliament wrote your Act:
- Set in state law, same for everyone. Victoria (10 April), South Australia (31 August) and Western Australia (31 October). Three states, three dates, no exceptions within them.
- Your own anniversary. The ACT, where registration is for life but the annual confirmation is compulsory and free. Brisbane works this way too — twelve months from the day you registered.
- Whatever your council decided. Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Hobart and Glenorchy share a border and are three months apart. This tool will not guess for you; it asks for the date on your notice instead.
And then New South Wales, which is none of the above: registration there is once, for life, and the only annual bill is a permit for an undesexed cat or a declared dog.
Every state and territory
The dog answer, side by side. Cats differ in four of the eight — pick a state above for that.
| Where | Dog renewal | First registration | If it lapses |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | Nothing to renew | 12 weeks | $330 penalty notice |
| VIC | 10 April | 3 months | Council infringement, then court |
| QLD | Your council sets it | 3 months (Brisbane); 14 days after moving council | On-the-spot infringement from your council |
| WA | 31 October | 3 months | Up to $5,000 |
| SA | 31 August | 3 months, within 14 days of possession | $170 expiation fee |
| TAS | Your council sets it | 6 months | Council infringement notice |
| ACT | Your registration anniversary — every year | 8 weeks | $150 infringement notice |
| NT | Your council sets it | 3 months (Darwin); 6 months (Alice Springs) | By-law fine, set by your council |
Penalty figures are the amount an owner actually meets — an expiation, infringement or on-the-spot fee — where the jurisdiction publishes one. The statutory maximums, which are much higher and are what a court can impose, are shown with each state above.
Two states do not register cats at all
Tasmania has no cat registration anywhere — but the Cat Management Act 2009 requires every cat over four months to be microchipped and desexed, which is a stricter obligation than registration is in most states. Queensland has no state cat registration either; Brisbane does not register cats, while the Sunshine Coast does under its own local law. South Australian councils vary — the City of Adelaide does not register cats.
Where cats are registered, the cost of not desexing is the sharpest on this page. NSW charges a $104 annual permit for an undesexed cat over four months — every year, indefinitely — against a $74 one-off registration for a desexed one. Western Australia does not offer the choice at all: sterilisation is a condition of cat registration, not a discount on it.
The desexing differential is the number nobody quotes
Registration is usually discussed as though it costs one figure. It costs two, and they are a long way apart. A Knox dog is $63 desexed and $256 entire. A Brisbane renewal is $64.55 against $185.40. Darwin is $36 against $160. Hobart is $63 against $146. Over a twelve-year life that gap is between one and two thousand dollars, before the concession card halves whichever side you are on.
Victoria then adds a second list almost nobody claims: an obedience certificate from an approved organisation, an animal over ten years old, a working stock dog, a GMA-registered hound, or membership of Dogs Victoria, ANCATS, the Feline Control Council, the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy, Master Dog Breeders and Associates or Responsible Pet Breeders Australia — each of them drops you to the reduced fee. Registered foster carers pay less again.
What a state can tell you, and what it can't
A state picker invites you to believe there is a state answer. In three states there is, and it is exact. In three others the state has delegated the whole question to 77, 29 and 17 councils respectively, and no honest tool can hand you a date for those — so this one asks for the date on your notice and turns that into the reminder instead. Fee tables for those states are labelled with the council and year they came from, because a Brisbane number is not a Queensland number.
Fees move every 1 July, penalty unit values are re-indexed on the same day, and councils adopt their schedules on their own timetable. The figures here were checked in August 2026. Your renewal notice and your council are the authority; if they disagree with this page, they are right.
Common questions
- When is pet registration due in Victoria?
- 10 April, every year, for every dog and cat in the state. Victoria is one of only three jurisdictions where the renewal date is set in state law rather than by your council, so the date is the same in all 79 Victorian councils. Renewal notices go out in March.
- When are dog registrations due in South Australia?
- Registration runs to 30 June, renewal notices arrive in July, and payment is due by 31 August. The two-month gap catches people out — the registration has technically expired for the whole of July and August. Renewals are handled through Dogs and Cats Online rather than at the council.
- When does dog registration expire in Western Australia?
- 31 October, whichever term you hold. A three-year registration expires on 31 October three years out rather than on its own anniversary. WA is also the one state where the fee is fixed statewide rather than set by each council: $20 a year for a sterilised dog, $50 unsterilised, or $100 and $250 for lifetime registration.
- Do I have to renew my pet registration in NSW?
- No. NSW registration is once, for life, and it follows the animal rather than the owner. Two things do recur: an annual permit of $104 for a cat that is not desexed by four months, and $247 a year for a dog declared dangerous or of a restricted breed. A dog that is not desexed by six months attracts a one-off $198 charge rather than an annual one.
- When do I need to register a puppy or kitten in NSW?
- By 12 weeks of age, or at first sale or transfer, whichever comes first. This changed on 1 July 2024 — it used to be six months, and a lot of advice still says six months. The penalty notice for missing it is $330 plus a $25 late fee.
- Do I need to register my cat in Queensland?
- Usually not. Cat registration is not a Queensland state requirement — Brisbane City Council does not register cats at all. Some councils require it under their own local law: the Sunshine Coast registers cats annually under Local Law No. 2 (Animal Management) 2011. Microchipping, however, is statewide: every cat and dog must be chipped between 8 and 12 weeks of age by whoever sells or gives it away.
- When is dog registration due in Queensland?
- There is no Queensland date. The councils set both the renewal date and the registration year, and they differ: Brisbane runs twelve months from the day you registered, so your date is your own, while the Sunshine Coast runs 1 October to 30 September for everyone with renewals due by 30 September. Your renewal notice is the only reliable answer.
- Do cats have to be registered in Tasmania?
- No — there is no cat registration anywhere in Tasmania. What the Cat Management Act 2009 does require is that every cat over four months old is microchipped and desexed, unless a vet certifies it would harm the animal or the owner is a registered breeder. Dogs are registered, over six months of age, on a date each council sets for itself: Hobart runs 1 July to 30 June, Glenorchy falls due 1 October.
- Is ACT pet registration lifetime?
- Yes, and you still have to renew it every year. ACT registration is for life, but the annual renewal is compulsory — you confirm or update the details on your registration anniversary, free of charge, with reminders at 14 and seven days. Not doing the free thing is a $150 infringement, which makes it the most avoidable fine in the country.
- Is pet registration required in the Northern Territory?
- It depends on your council, because there is no Territory-wide registration Act at all — only municipal by-laws. Darwin registrations expire 31 August and are renewed from 1 September; Palmerston is due 1 September with a grace period to 30 September; Alice Springs offers annual or lifetime registration for dogs and cats over six months. Outside the municipalities there may be no requirement.
- What happens if you do not register your dog in Australia?
- It varies more than any other part of this. South Australia issues a $170 expiation fee and treats every 14 days the dog stays unregistered as a fresh offence. NSW publishes a $330 penalty notice. The ACT issues $150 for failing to do a free annual renewal. Western Australia sets a $5,000 maximum, Victoria and Queensland set 20 penalty units (about $4,182 and $3,454 at 2026-27 rates), and Tasmania sets five (about $1,065). Those ceilings are what a court can impose; a council infringement is normally much smaller.
- How much does it cost to register a dog in Australia?
- Roughly $20 to $90 a year for a desexed dog and $50 to $256 for an entire one, depending on the council. The desexing differential is the number that surprises people: it is about $190 a year in a Victorian council, $120 in Brisbane, $124 in Darwin and $83 in Hobart. Concession cards typically halve whatever is left.
- Do I need an account to use this?
- No. There is no sign-up and no email capture, and nothing you type is sent anywhere — the dates are worked out in your own browser. You can print the result, or download it as a yearly repeating calendar reminder that works in Apple Calendar, Google Calendar and Outlook.
Next, the useful stuff
- Puppy & kitten vaccination schedule generator — the first-year dates, including the first registration deadline that lands in the same fortnight as the last vaccination.
- Worming, flea and tick calendar by postcode — the other set of dates that repeats forever, and the one that varies by climate rather than by parliament.
- Pet sitter information sheet — printable, including the council registration number for the tag.
- All free tools — no account, no email capture, on any of them.
One date a year is easy to remember. It is the other forty that get you.
Registration renews once a year, the booster is annual, the worming is quarterly and the tick preventative is monthly — and they are all held in one person’s head. Household Pet keeps them against the pet instead, shared with everyone in the household, so the reminder reaches whoever is actually home to do it.
Sources
- Agriculture Victoria — Dog and cat registration
- Agriculture Victoria — Dog and cat registration fees (reduced-fee criteria)
- Knox City Council — Pet registration fees (worked Victorian example, 2026-27)
- Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety — Penalties and values (penalty unit $209.10 for 2026-27)
- NSW Office of Local Government — Pet registration fees (updated 1 July 2026)
- NSW Office of Local Government — Annual pet permit fees
- NSW Office of Local Government — Non-desexed cat and dog fees
- NSW Office of Local Government — Registration and permit fees (lifetime registration; $330 penalty notice)
- NSW Office of Local Government — Understanding recent updates to the NSW Pet Registry (registration due at 12 weeks from 1 July 2024)
- Queensland Government — Laws for pet owners in Queensland
- Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Act 2008 (Qld) s 44 — registration obligation, maximum 20 penalty units
- Queensland Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers — Value of a penalty unit ($172.70 from 1 July 2026)
- Brisbane City Council — Register your pet (worked Queensland example, 2026-27)
- Sunshine Coast Council — Cat and dog registration renewals (a different Queensland registration year)
- Dog and Cat Management Board — Dogs and Cats Online registration
- Law Handbook South Australia — Dog registration (maximum $2,500, expiation fee $170; $5,000 and $750 for a dangerous or prescribed dog)
- City of Adelaide — Dog and cat registration (cats not registered in that council area)
- WA Government — Microchipping cats and dogs
- City of Gosnells — Dog registration (the statewide fee scale set under the Dog Act 1976; 31 October expiry; $5,000 maximum penalty)
- City of Stirling — Pet registration, microchipping and sterilisation (cat registration ages and the half-price rule from 1 June)
- Service Tasmania — Dog registration (all dogs over six months must be registered)
- City of Hobart — Dog registration and microchipping (registration year 1 July to 30 June; 2026-27 fees)
- Glenorchy City Council — Dogs and dog registration (renewals due 1 October — a different date in the same state)
- Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania — Desexing and microchipping (cats over four months; no council registration)
- Hobart Community Legal Service — Dogs (maximum 5 penalty units for an unregistered dog)
- Tasmanian Department of Justice — Penalty units and indexed amounts ($213 for 2026-27)
- ACT City Services — Dog and cat registration
- ACT City Services — Dog registration (lifetime registration with a compulsory free annual renewal; $150 infringement)
- City of Darwin — Pet registration (expires 31 August; 2026-27 fees)
- City of Palmerston — Pet registration and licencing (renew by 1 September, grace period to 30 September)
- Alice Springs Town Council — Register a pet (annual or lifetime, dogs and cats over six months)
Reviewed August 2026. This is general information for Australian pet owners, not legal advice. Registration fees are set by councils in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, so every figure from those states is labelled with the council and year it came from rather than presented as a state rate. Penalty amounts are quoted in penalty units where that is how the statute writes them, with the dollar conversion at the 2026-27 unit value; those values are re-indexed each 1 July. Your council and your renewal notice are the authority.