Our commitment to you

For taxpayers

On this page

Our service

We are committed to being accessible and responsive to you in providing an independent ombudsman service. 

Our services are based on mutual respect, cooperation and reasonableness. We will be professional and treat you with respect and courtesy at all times. Similarly, we expect you will act in a manner that is reasonable towards our team members. 

Our commitments

We are independent and will: 

  • Act professionally, fairly and impartially in our dealings 
  • Explain our role and what we can and cannot do for you 
  • Explain how we manage complaints and what information we need from you 
  • Keep you regularly informed and updated on the progress of your complaint 
  • Provide the decisions and outcome of your complaint as soon as we can and explain how we reached them 
  • Direct you to someone who can help with your complaint, where we are unable to assist you directly 
  • Maintain your confidentiality and privacy 
  • Provide a dedicated contact officer for your complaint to ensure continuity and efficiency, wherever this is feasible.  

Helping us to help you

We ask that you: 

  • Clearly identify for us the tax administration issues, concerns and outcomes you wish to have raised and addressed about your complaint regarding the Australian Tax Office (ATO) or Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) 
  • Provide all relevant information and documentation to us in an accurate, succinct and organised manner 
  • Work with us and respond to our requests for information as quickly as possible 
  • Tell us of any special needs you have so we can better assist you 
  • Provide feedback about our service at any stage of the process. 

Reasonable and unreasonable conduct 

When interacting with our office, we ask you communicate respectfully and support our shared expectations of reasonable behaviour.  

We understand that the circumstances leading you to lodging a complaint with us may be stressful or frustrating. Please note we do not accept unreasonable behaviour, we focus our services on those we can assist and ensure the safety and wellbeing of our staff. 

Examples of unreasonable conduct include: 

  • Abusive, denigrating, intimidating or threatening correspondence or behaviour towards our team members 
  • Refusal to cooperate with team members during the complaint investigation process 
  • Making unreasonable demands on our office’s resources 
  • Unnecessary and excessive contact with our team members in relation to a specific complaint or complaints 
  • Persistent refusal to accept a decision or explanations relating to what we are able or unable to do. 

Should a person’s behaviour or conduct fall within any of these examples, amongst others, a decision can be made to halt the complaint investigation process and determine an appropriate course of action. This may include limiting or adapting the ways in which we interact with you and, in rare, more extreme situations, may result in cessation of contact and or referral to relevant authorities. 

Complaints about our service or conduct 

The service we provide is based on our service commitments outlined above. If you are not satisfied with our service or conduct (including the professional conduct or behaviour of Tax Ombudsman officers), or believe our processes can be improved, you can provide feedback by speaking to the officer handling your matter. We are always looking for opportunities to improve our service to the community. 

If you would like to complain about an experience you have experienced as part of our investigation please read our feedback page for more details on how to progress.