ATO announces enhancements to client-agent linking
The Tax Office has made several changes to the client-to-agent linking process in response to issues raised by frustrated tax agents.
In an update issued yesterday, the ATO said it has made several enhancements to the client-to-agent linking process in response to feedback sessions it held with stakeholders.
"We've engaged with professional associations, registered agents and businesses since the client-to-agent linking pilot program commenced in June 2022," the ATO said.
"We held feedback sessions with these stakeholders after each phase of deployment to listen to their experiences and identify opportunities to enhance the client-to-agent linking process."
The ATO said it has now delivered several enhancements following the feedback such as increasing the nomination expiry period from 7 days to 28 days and developing a real-time, on-demand report in the online services for agents platform so agents can see nominations pending their action.
"Agents can now also transfer existing clients between registered agent numbers associated with the same practice ABN without an agent nomination," the Tax Office said.
Income tax agents can also add a client at the FBT account level without an additional agent nomination.
The ATO said it is also identifying clients that would need its assistance with the agent nomination process and setting up support processes including an agent practice mail option.
These clients include foreign entities, foreign entertainers/sportspeople who use an entity for tax purposes, strata titles, bulk groups and a small number of entities without an ABN included in the client-to-agent linking pilot program.
The Tax Office has also implemented in-system guidance messages in online services for agents.
"This helps agents to link to their client at the right account level, and alerts the agent when they're about to remove another agent from an account," it said.
The client-to-agent linking process has received substantial criticism since its initial implementation, with the multi-step system resulting in wasted hours and confusion for taxpayers and practitioners.
Earlier this year, CPA Australia senior policy manager Gavan Ord said the system was “causing a major headache for some tax agents and their less digitally-inclined clients”.
“Switching to digital systems should make things easier and more efficient, but this only works if businesses know how to use them and can invest the time to learn how to use them as opposed to leaving it all with their agents," Ord said.
Professional bodies and tax practitioners have also previously called for the ATO to provide better support to businesses and clients navigating the linking process.
In a separate update yesterday, the ATO said client-to-agent linking was critical in helping to defend against attempts to harvest personal information and defraud the tax system.
"We're seeing criminals attempting to commit fraud by taking over the identities of honest registered agents to access the personal information of taxpayers," the ATO said.
Criminals may pose as taxpayers and engage an agent to help them lodge fraudulent returns or as agents to gain access to sensitive client information.
"Identity-related fraud can have significant, disruptive and lasting impacts for both agents and clients," the Tax Office said.
"It’s important we work together to strengthen the security of our online services. This will help protect agent and client information from unauthorised access and activity."
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