Australian Taxation Office | Changes to Communication Delivery
The ATO have changed the way they communicate.
They are now using electronic channels as their preferred means for delivery of ATO correspondence by sending messages directly to clients via the taxpayer’s myGov Inbox.
The myGov portal is a way to access and manage Government services online and allows clients to link a range of Australian Government services with one username and password.
This means that, without notification to us, the following ATO correspondence will be delivered automatically to your myGov Inbox:
- activity statements and instalment notices
- confirmation and reminder notices such as Division 293
- statement of account
- Notice of Assessment
If you have set up a myGov account and linked it to the ATO, by default you have agreed to receive ATO correspondence into your myGov Inbox rather than have correspondence sent to us as your tax agent. Once you have linked the ATO to your my Gov account it is not possible to change your mail delivery preference back to us unless you unlink the ATO account.
If you have a myGov account but it is not linked to the ATO or if you do not have a myGov account, your delivery method remains unchanged.
Only individuals are able to set up a myGov account (for example, it is not available to entities i.e. companies, trusts or partnerships).
This Government initiative has been brought to our attention by clients in the last couple of months. By sending the communications directly to clients the ATO are taking on the role of tax agent, it has caused many problems at our end as tax agents in terms of inefficiencies, unnecessary costs and missed deadlines for clients.
We cannot rectify this but can only give the ATO our feedback on this new approach/system, and call on our clients to exercise diligence while their myGov account is linked to the ATO.
For more information about the above, please click here ATO communications.
The material and contents provided in this publication are informative in nature only. It is not intended to be advice and you should not act specifically on the basis of this information alone. If expert assistance is required, professional advice should be obtained.