Some $1.7 million of political donations are missing from the financial disclosure declarations of major Australian parties and companies.

An analysis of Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) data by ABC TV's The Weekly with Charlie Pickering shows parties have failed to declare donations from a developer, law firms and business interests.

A business owned by Paul Marks, who is a Liberal donor and close friend of disgraced minister Stuart Robert, is one of 10 donors that have failed to declare their gifts.

Mr Marks' company Brunswick Property (Vic) Pty Ltd gave the Liberal Party $600,000 in two separate donations last financial year.

Mr Marks has not responded to the ABC's enquiries.

Donors have to declare gifts totalling more than $12,800 to a particular party, while parties have to declare their total receipts and any individual gifts of more than $12,800.

The donations missed by the Liberal Party total $50,960, while the Labor Party failed to declare $202,809 worth of gifts.

Individuals and companies failed to declare about $1.3 million in donations.

Other receipts, subscriptions relaxed on disclosure requirements

The Weekly's investigation found 80 instances where donors declared their money as a gift but the party told the electoral commission it was an "other receipt" or "subscription."

Other receipts and subscriptions have more relaxed disclosure requirements than donations.

The AEC defines other receipts as amounts that do not fit the definition of gifts, such as investment returns, rent, or money from the sale of property.

The largest individual donor named on an other receipt was Tasmanian businesswoman Wendy Kennedy, who was listed as giving $847,623 to the CFMEU Victoria/Tasmania Branch.

Last week The Weekly revealed Ms Kennedy had no knowledge of the funding and had asked police to investigate.

The CFMEU said it was an "administrative error".

Political donations funnelled through 'entities' to benefit parties

The AEC data reveals $173 million flowed to Australian parties last year, with 37 per cent allowed to remain anonymous under Commonwealth Electoral Act rules.

A significant amount of the money was funnelled through associated entities — clubs, companies or unions — set up to benefit particular parties or politicians.

Associated entities blur the money trail between donors and politicians because the entities do not legally have to declare where much of their funds come from.

For example, the Labor Party's fundraising arm, Progressive Business, declared the source of about $320,000, which works out to be a fifth of the $1.6 million it raised last financial year.

While 18 clubs linked to the Liberal Party's Victorian Branch raised $2.4 million, the clubs only revealed the source of 4 per cent of that money in official returns to the AEC.

Investigation of donors, parties is a long process

The AEC has the power to investigate whether donors, parties and associated entities have complied with their obligations under the act.

But it has told the ABC it is a long process.

"The AEC, upon receipt of returns, must process and scan them, and data enter and check the information entered is the same as entered on the returns before publication," a spokesman said.

"The AEC has an ongoing year-round program for doing this work [identifying errors]."

The AEC said it did not have any information on the number of charges for breaching the disclosure requirements of the act, and the ABC understands its evidence has not led to any successful prosecutions.

The most recent compliance investigation listed on the AEC website is from 2012.

The Weekly's analysis relied on AEC data and does not purport to be a full list of undeclared donations, but a list of those undeclared donations found during its investigation.

The ABC is seeking comment from the parties.

The Liberal Party of Victoria says it declared KPMG's donation in last year's return, but electoral data shows the amounts still do not match up.

Largest donations not declared by parties

Party Donor Donation amount Australian Labor Party Capital [b] Pty Ltd $26,668 Australian Labor Party Springfield Land Corporation ATF Springfield Development Trust $17,115 Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch) Mr Harold Mitchell $21,594 Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch) KPMG Australia $21,432 Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch) Holding Redlich $16,000 Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch) Jianping and Min Fu and Zhang $200,000* Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division) KPMG Australia $30,960 Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division) Arnold Bloch Leibler $20,000

*Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch) declared $100,000 from Jianping and Min Fu and Zhang

Largest donations not declared by donors